Trump Downplays Report Linking Chinese Satellite Imagery to Deadly Iran Strike Ahead of Xi's White House Visit

President Trump is rolling out the red carpet for Xi Jinping while downplaying a report tying Chinese companies to a strike that killed three American soldiers.

The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed U.S. officials, reported that Iran acquired high-resolution satellite imagery of the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan from Chinese entities both before and after Iran's July 17 missile attack there. That strike killed three U.S. service members: Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, and Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, 28. Four more were wounded, according to CBS News.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One last Sunday, Sept. 13, Trump was asked about the report. "They basically do what we do," he said, according to Fox News and Reuters reporting carried by Al-Monitor. "When they say China spies on us, I say you're right, and we spy on them too." Asked whether he'd raise it with Xi, Trump said the Chinese leader has "behaved reasonably well, and we behave reasonably well."

The officials cited by the Journal did not name the Chinese entities involved and stopped short of accusing Beijing's government of direct involvement, according to Al-Monitor's report of the Reuters wire story. China's foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun rejected the allegations outright at a briefing, saying Beijing has "consistently and strictly fulfilled its international obligations" and that China "firmly opposes unfounded suspicions and accusations made without evidence."

No U.S. official has publicly named the companies in this specific incident, disclosed the underlying intelligence, or shown how Iran actually used the images, as the Times of India's video report on the story noted. The gap between "Chinese entities supplied imagery" and "the Chinese government directed an attack on Americans" is substantial, and Washington hasn't closed it publicly.

In May, the Trump administration sanctioned three Chinese satellite companies, Meentropy Technology, The Earth Eye, and Chang Guang Satellite Technology, for providing imagery the Treasury Department said "enables Iran's military strikes against U.S. forces in the Middle East," according to CBS News. So the administration has already gone on record that Chinese satellite firms were helping Iran target Americans months before this specific Jordan report surfaced.

Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan sent Trump a letter Friday, Sept. 18, obtained by CBS News, urging him to make the issue "a centerpiece" of his talks with Xi at the White House summit scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 24. "For months, we have known that Chinese companies are helping the Iranian military target and attempt to kill U.S. troops," Slotkin wrote, arguing the new reporting shows that support "may have directly contributed to the deaths of American servicemembers." She called Trump's deference to Xi, paired with friction toward allies, "beyond me."

Trump's softer China posture isn't limited to this one episode. He has also eased off other confrontations, telling reporters he's less inclined to retaliate over China's alleged 2020 access to U.S. voter files because "China is maybe a little bit different today than it was then," according to reporting from Fortune and Newsday.

On trade, Trump points to a 100 to 150 percent tariff that he says has kept Chinese cars out of the U.S. market, telling reporters aboard Air Force One on Sept. 13, "I get every deal," per the Epoch Times. That's true as far as it goes, though the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, representing GM, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, and others, is pushing Congress for a permanent statutory ban on Chinese vehicles by year's end, warning in a letter from CEO John Bozzella that Chinese automakers are "dumping subsidized vehicles with connected software and hardware" capable of funneling data to Beijing.

Michael Kovrig, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group who was detained in China during Trump's first term, argues the tariff fight actually backfired last year because China's dominance over rare earth minerals gave Beijing leverage to force a trade truce. "Xi and Trump got into a contest of leverage, and Xi came out on top," Kovrig told Fortune and Newsday.

Whether the Jordan imagery issue comes up publicly at Thursday's summit, and whether Trump names the Chinese entities involved rather than folding the episode into his broader both-sides framing, is unclear. The State Department and White House have not detailed what, if anything, the U.S. will demand from Beijing in response.