The US president has blasted Beijing for restricting certain rare earths exports and vowed to retaliate with tariffs
US President Donald Trump has warned of strong retaliation against China after accusing it of “becoming very hostile” by imposing export controls on rare earth elements and other critical materials.
On Thursday, Beijing announced new restrictions on the export of certain strategic minerals that have dual-use in military applications, saying the move was intended to protect national security and meet international obligations, including those related to non-proliferation.
In a post on Truth Social on Friday, Trump responded with a threat to target Chinese imports into the US.
”One of the policies that we are calculating at this moment is a massive increase of tariffs,” Trump wrote, adding that further steps are also “under serious consideration.”
Trump also threatened to cancel a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping that was scheduled to take place in two weeks at the APEC summit in South Korea.
Trump described Chinese export restrictions as an unprecedented and hostile move, claiming that Beijing sent detailed letters to countries around the world listing elements China intends to withhold. He warned that the measures could disrupt global markets and impact nearly every nation.
”This would ‘clog’ the Markets, and make life difficult for virtually every Country in the World,” he stated. According to Trump, several world leaders have already contacted Washington to express their outrage.
Trump said the timing of the restrictions was especially unexpected given recent diplomatic progress. “Our relationship with China over the past six months has been a very good one, thereby making this move on Trade an even more surprising one,” he noted.
In August, the US and China agreed to extend a tariff truce following a trade war in which the two nations repeatedly slapped increasingly harsher levies on each other. The 90-day pause has seen US tariffs on Chinese goods fall from 145% to 30% and Chinese tariffs on American products drop from 125% to 10%. The extension expires in November.
