More Than a Hundred Empty Tankers Are en Route to Buy Oil From America after the US military started a blockade of Iran.
14th April 2026
China has spent the past two decades making huge, aggressive moves worldwide. China has essentially colonized the African continent as part of its Belt and Road Initiative, and has poured money into new highways that connect it to Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. China dominates global manufacturing, having drained the U.S. of manufacturing jobs. It is also building islands in the Pacific to expand its territory and trade routes while a supermassive fishing fleet goes up and down the coast of South America and Antartica, stripping the oceans of fish.
It is not a coincidence that American forces captured the former president of Venezuela in a nighttime raid on the same day he was meeting with Chinese delegates. Oil is Venezuela’s currency, and China needs it.
Iran is another critical piece of the puzzle. If China-friendly Iran did become a nuclear power, it would not only hold the Strait of Hormuz hostage (where American allies in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the UAE produce oil), but could reach as far as London, destroying American security of global trade around Europe, Africa, and Asia.
In essence, if China controls the high seas with the help of proxies like Iran and Venezuela, as well as the manufacturing hubs, as well as the oil trade, then they control the world.
Taking steps to counter the Chinese government’s desire to become the dominant superpower does come with pain at the pump, but the Trump admin is betting its worth it to retain American/Western dominance.
Who depends on Middle Eastern oil? Not the U.S.—we have our own oil, and can get it easily from Canada (you go, Alberta!) and (now) Venezuela. The people who need Middle Eastern oil are Europe and Asia. China, in particular, get about half of its oil from the Middle East—oil that the U.S. has just cut off.
TRUMP IS A BILLIONAIRE BUSINESSMAN. He understands global markets better than you do, and much better than any scribbler writing for the New York Times or the Washington Post—or, nowadays, the Wall Street Journal.