President Trump’s tariff announcement will reignite the trade war with Beijing. He also suggested that tariffs could be imposed sooner “depending on further actions and changes in China.”
President Trump accuses China of monopolizing rare earths, threatens retaliation
President Donald Trump has criticized China’s rare earth export restrictions and threatened retaliatory tariffs.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said the United States will impose 100% tariffs on all imports from China in retaliation for new export restrictions on rare earth minerals planned by the Chinese government.
The move would reignite the trade war between the world’s two largest economies, although the United States and China have maintained a truce for months that kept each other’s tariffs flat.
President Trump said the new tariffs would go into effect on Nov. 1, adding that the administration would also impose new export controls on “all sorts of critical software” on that date.
“I can’t believe China did that, but they did and the rest is history,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The 100% tariff would be in addition to the 30% tariff that the United States currently imposes on products from China, bringing the total tariff rate on Chinese imports to 130%.
President Trump threatened massive tariffs earlier in the day in response to China’s “extremely aggressive stance on trade,” sending the U.S. stock market into a tailspin.
Rare earth minerals are used to make microchips, semiconductors, and other electronic devices.
President Trump said countries around the world have received letters from China detailing their intention to impose export controls on “every element of production related to rare earths, and virtually every other thing you can think of, even if it’s not made in China.” He likened the move to China’s attempt to “monopoly” the rare earth industry.
“This affects every country without exception, and it’s clearly a plan that was devised by each country years ago. It’s completely unprecedented in international trade, and it’s a moral disgrace to doing business with other countries,” Trump said.
President Trump, entering his second term, has imposed significant tariffs on imports from around the world. China was initially targeted by the highest tariffs, but in August the Trump administration and China reached a second agreement to extend the tariff truce for 90 days, avoiding triple-digit tariffs on imports that both countries had threatened.
President Trump signed an order that prevents U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods from rising to a maximum of 145%, while China’s tariffs on U.S. goods are scheduled to reach 125%, a rate that would create a de facto trade embargo between the two countries. The ceasefire fixed a 30% tariff on Chinese imports, and reduced China’s tariffs on US imports to 10%.
In his first social media post, President Trump also threatened to cancel plans to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in South Korea later this month. “We were scheduled to meet with President Xi at APEC in South Korea in two weeks, but there appears to be no reason to do so now,” he wrote.
President Trump is planning widespread rare earth export controls and has accused China of having “great trade hostility.” He said the move “came out of nowhere” even though China and the Trump administration have been engaged in a months-long trade war during Trump’s second term.
“Our relationship with China over the past six months has been very good, which makes this move on trade all the more surprising,” Trump said. “I always had the feeling that they were in ambush, and as always, I was proven right!”
Contributed by: Reuters
X Contact Joey Garrison at @joeygarrison.
