The China trip had been planned for months but began to unravel as Trump pressured Beijing and other world powers to use their military might to protect the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for the flow of oil.

China has restricted two co-founders of Manus from leaving the country as regulators review whether Meta’s $2bn acquisition of the AI agent company violates Beijing’s investment rules. Manus’s chief executive Xiao Hong and chief scientist Ji Yichao were summoned to a meeting in Beijing with the National Development and Reform Commission this month,