MNI London: US President Donald Trump has threatened to raise tariffs on China and withdraw from a high-profile upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a lengthy statement on Truth Social, citing a letter from Beijing which he claims lays out new rare earth export control measures.
- Trump writes that China is, “becoming very hostile” regarding export controls on rare earths and “virtually anything else they can think of, even if it’s not manufactured in China.” Trump says, “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,” arguing that Beijing is holding the world “captive” with “monopoly positions.”
- Trump says that the US also “has Monopoly positions” that he has refrained from using until now. He flags two potential actions. First he threatens to cancel a planned meeting with President Xi on the margins of the APEC summit in South Korea later this month. Second, Trump says his administration is, “calculating at this moment is a massive increase of tariffs" on Chinese products coming into the US. He notes that “many other countermeasures” are also under consideration, without specifying. Note: The current tariff truce is set to end on November 10, unless a new deal is struck.
- CNBC notes, "China’s Ministry of Commerce on Thursday said that foreign entities must now obtain a license to export products that contain more than 0.1% of rare earth sourced from that country, or that are manufactured using Chinese extraction, refining, magnet-making or recycling technology."