TOKYO/PALM BEACH, Florida — US President Donald J. Trump’s demands for a coalition to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz appeared to fall on deaf ears on Monday as allies Japan and Australia said they were not planning to send navy vessels to the Middle East to escort ships through the vital waterway.

With the US-Israeli war on Iran creating turmoil across the Middle East and shaking up global energy markets in its third week, Mr. Trump on Sunday insisted that nations relying heavily on oil from the Gulf have a responsibility to protect the strait through which 20% of the world’s energy transits.

Markets in Asia reacted cautiously, with Brent crude LCOc1 rising more than 1% above $104.50 and regional share markets mostly weaker amid concerns about the risk to Middle East oil facilities and after Mr. Trump’s request for allies to get more involved.

“I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory because it is their territory,” Mr. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on the way from Florida to Washington. “It’s the place from which they get their energy.”

Mr. Trump said his administration has already contacted seven countries but did not identify the countries. In a weekend social media post, he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would participate.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a staunch Mr. Trump supporter, said on Monday her country, constrained by its war-renouncing constitution, has no plan to dispatch naval vessels to escort ships in the Middle East from where it gets 95% of its oil.

“We have not made any decisions whatsoever about dispatching escort ships. We are continuing to examine what Japan can do independently and what can be done within the legal framework,” Ms. Takaichi told parliament.

Australia, another key Indo-Pacific security ally to the US that also relies heavily on fuels made with Middle Eastern crude, said it will not send naval ships to assist in reopening the strait either.

“We know how incredibly important that is, but that’s not something that we’ve been asked or that we’re contributing to,” Catherine King, a member of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s cabinet, said in an interview with state broadcaster ABC.

TRUMP MAY DELAY BEIJING VISIT WITHOUT CHINA SUPPORT
Mr. Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday he was expecting China to help unblock the Strait before his scheduled meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing at the end of this month and might postpone his trip if it did not provide assistance.

“I think China should help too because China gets 90% of its oil from the Straits,” Mr. Trump said. “We may delay,” he said in reference to his visit if China did not offer support in the Gulf.

The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Mr. Trump also ratcheted up pressure on European allies to help protect the Strait, warning that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization faces a “very bad” future if its members fail to come to Washington’s aid.

European Union (EU) foreign ministers will discuss on Monday bolstering a small naval mission in the Middle East but are not expected to decide on extending its role to the choked-off Strait of Hormuz, diplomats and officials say.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussed the need to reopen the Strait with Mr. Trump, and with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, a Downing Street spokeswoman said on Sunday, while South Korea has said it would carefully review Mr. Trump’s request.

Global air travel remains severely disrupted due to the Iran war which has closed or restricted key Middle Eastern hubs including Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi, forcing airlines to cancel thousands of flights and stranding tens of thousands of passengers.

Supplies of jet fuel are also becoming a concern, with authorities in Vietnam warning the country’s aviation industry to prepare for potential flight reductions from April after China and Thailand halted exports of jet fuel due to the Iran war.

DRONES CAUSE FIRE, DISRUPT TRAFFIC AT DUBAI AIRPORT
The disruption to energy markets caused by the Iran war is an “abject lesson” in the risks of relying on fossil fuels, according to the United Nations (UN) climate secretary.

“Fossil fuel dependency is ripping away national security and sovereignty, and replacing it with subservience and rising costs,” Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, will tell EU officials and government ministers at an event in Brussels on Monday.

Although some Iranian vessels have continued to pass and a few ships from other countries have successfully made the crossing, the passage has been effectively closed for most of the world’s tanker traffic since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28.

Israel continued to launch strikes on Iran as well as Lebanon and Gaza, targeting militants from the Iran-backed Hezbollah and Hamas. The Israeli military said on Monday its troops had begun limited ground operations against positions in southern Lebanon held by Hezbollah.

Despite repeated claims from US authorities to have destroyed Iran’s military capabilities, drone attacks continued to threaten Gulf states on Monday.

Dubai authorities said they had contained a fire but temporarily suspended flights at the airport after a drone attack hit a fuel tank. Saudi Arabia intercepted 34 drones in its eastern region in one hour, state media said. No injuries were reported in either incident.

US officials responding to economic uncertainty over high oil prices predicted on Sunday that the war on Iran would end within weeks and that a drop in energy costs would follow, despite Iran’s assertion that it remains “stable and strong” and ready to defend itself.

Mr. Trump, who threatened more strikes on Iran’s main oil export hub Kharg Island over the weekend, has said previously that Iran wants to negotiate and that the US was talking to Iran, but Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier on Sunday disputed that claim.

“We have never asked for a ceasefire, and we have never asked even for negotiations,” Mr. Araghchi told CBS’ Face the Nation program. “We are ready to defend ourselves for as long as it takes.” — Reuters

SEOUL — South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party said on Monday that the government will lift limits on coal-fired power generation capacity and raise nuclear power plant utilization to as high as 80% as part of an energy response to the Middle East crisis.

Lawmakers in the party’s Middle East crisis economic response task force said in a briefing the measures are aimed at stabilizing energy supply and prices as oil and gas shipments to South Korea have been blocked by tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.

South Korea relies almost totally on imports for its energy, buying about 70% of its oil and 20% of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Middle East, according to Korea International Trade Association data.

The government would prioritize managing LNG supplies by increasing coal and nuclear output while reducing reliance on LNG-fired power generation, Democratic Party lawmaker Ahn Do-geol said.

Limits capping coal power output at 80% of installed capacity would be lifted from Monday, Mr. Ahn said, while maintenance work at six nuclear reactors would be completed early to boost nuclear utilization from the high-60% range to 80%.

South Korea on Friday introduced a gasoline price cap at 1,724 won ($1.15) per liter. It will adjust these prices every two weeks to reflect changes in global oil prices.

Mr. Ahn said gasoline and diesel prices on Sunday had fallen by 58 won and 77 won per liter, respectively, since the price cap was implemented.

SUPPLEMENTARY BUDGET
A supplementary budget would be drawn up by the end of this month and submitted to parliament, Mr. Ahn said. The extra budget is expected to include compensation for refiners linked to the fuel price cap, energy voucher payments, logistics cost support for exporters, and expanded investment in renewable energy.

Democratic Party leader Jung Chung-rae said in a separate party meeting on Monday that it would fast-track passage of the extra budget proposal within 10 days after it is submitted.

The budget ministry said there had been no decision yet on a specific date for a supplementary budget but would prepare one as soon as possible.

The ruling party and government were also considering designating the Yeosu petrochemical complex as a special industrial crisis response zone, said Mr. Ahn.

Shortages of raw materials such as aluminum, sulfur and naphtha were severe, and that supply disruptions and price spikes for naphtha — 25% of which is imported from the Middle East — could force petrochemical companies to cut production, he said.

To address this, the government would freeze exports of domestically produced naphtha at last year’s levels and seek alternative import sources, Mr. Ahn said.

The task force also agreed to double the ceiling on export vouchers usable for international transport costs to 60 million won and to introduce emergency logistics support vouchers for exporters to the Middle East, providing 10 million won each to 1,000 companies, Mr. Ahn said. — Reuters

BEIJING — China’s factory output growth quickened in January-February while retail sales rebounded, in a steady start to the year for an economy confronting multiple challenges including the fallout from the US-Israeli war against Iran.

Industrial output rose 6.3% from the same period in the previous year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed on Monday, up from the 5.2% growth clocked in December. It beat a 5% expansion forecast in a Reuters poll and marked the quickest growth since September last year.

The figures follow data showing China’s exports blew past forecasts in the first two months, powered by surging artificial intelligence‑related technology demand that also lifted upstream manufacturing.

“While risks to the outlook have increased amid geopolitical tensions and disruptions to global trade and energy markets, the latest figures indicate that China entered the year with a firmer growth footing than previously thought,” said Hao Zhou, chief economist at Guotai Junan International.

Retail sales, a gauge of consumption, jumped 2.8%, quickening from the 0.9% pace in December for their biggest gain since October last year. Analysts had expected a 2.5% growth.

The strong impetus was driven in part by the country’s longest Lunar New Year holiday in February. The festivities helped boost total tourism spending by almost 19% from the same holiday period last year, which was one day shorter.

But domestic tourism spending per trip dipped 0.2%, suggesting consumers remain cautious.

Data from earlier last week, for instance, showed passenger vehicle sales at home tumbled 26% year on year in January-February, hurt by the end of a tax break and scaled-back government subsidies for electric vehicles.

China combines January and February data releases to smooth out distortions from the festival holidays, which can fall in either month.

Monday’s data provided another encouraging sign for policymakers as an unexpected upturn in investment took some of the sting off the challenge of a protracted downturn in the critical property sector.

Fixed asset investment, which includes property and infrastructure investment, expanded 1.8% in the first two months, versus expectations for a 2.1% drop. It fell 3.8% in 2025, the first annual drop in about three decades.

Infrastructure investment, in particular, grew 11.4%, as policy support including a new financing tool from banks to fund key investment projects started to take effect.

The overall data, while showing some positive momentum, still suggest a wide gap between robust external demand and sluggish household consumption that analysts warn could hamper China’s long-term growth prospects. Last week’s lending data pointed to a continued slump in household borrowing.

Also, worryingly for income generation, the survey-based nationwide jobless rate rose to 5.3% in the first two months from December’s 5.1%, the NBS data showed.

“It cannot be ruled out that domestic demand data in March will still face downward pressure,” said Zhaopeng Xing, senior China strategist at ANZ, though he added that the overall data do not support an interest rate cut in the near term.

WAR IMPACT TO START FEEDING THROUGH IN COMING MONTHS
At the annual parliament meeting that closed last week, policymakers set this year’s economic growth target at 4.5%-5%, down from last year’s “around 5%.” The target was met in 2025 largely on the back of a record trade surplus of just over $1 trillion, deepening unease among China’s trading partners.

Analysts say China faces significant challenges as it tries to foster sustainable longer-term growth.

While the government pledged a “notable” lift in household consumption, it spelled out a few measures to suggest a turn toward aggressive demand‑side reforms.

The Middle East conflict adds fresh uncertainty as it drives up energy prices and rattles global trade, raising the stakes for US President Donald J. Trump’s late-March trip to Beijing to meet President Xi Jinping.

“The turmoil in the Middle East is set to show its impact on the global economy in coming months… I expect policymakers to respond through fiscal policy, if necessary,” said Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management.

“The market will focus on the upcoming meeting between the Chinese and American leaders. While China will likely purchase more goods from the US to mitigate the trade imbalance, the war in the Middle East has made the meeting complicated.” — Reuters