The Iran War Is Testing US Alliances and Alarming Farmers

Welcome to the Wall Street Week newsletter, bringing you stories of capitalism about things you need to know, but even more things you need to think about. I’m David Westin, and this week we talk to former US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns about the effects of the war in Iran on US-China relations, and we look at how it’s affecting farmers who need the fertilizer stuck in the Strait of Hormuz. If you’re not yet a subscriber, sign up here for this newsletter.

President Donald Trump postponed his trip to China to meet with President Xi Jinping until mid-May because of the Iran war. Former US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns, who’s now a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School, calls that a “sensible” decision: “He couldn’t go off to Beijing and stand beside Xi Jinping and have three days of symmetry. He had to be at his desk running the war.”