Trump threatens to scrap meeting with Xi, impose ‘massive’ China tariffs
President Trump warned on Friday that he may cancel his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and impose sweeping new tariffs in response to Beijing’s recently announced export restrictions.
“Some very strange things are happening in China!” President Trump wrote in a detailed statement on social media. He accused Beijing of becoming increasingly hostile and of attempting to restrict exports on a wide range of materials vital to global manufacturing.
“They are becoming very hostile, and sending letters to countries throughout the world, saying they intend to impose export controls on nearly every element tied to rare earths and other key materials— even some that aren’t produced in China,” he said.
President Trump noted that the relationship between Washington and Beijing had been “very good” over the past six months, calling the move by China “a surprising and hostile turn.”
“I have always felt that they’ve been lying in wait, and now, as usual, I have been proven right,” he added.
He went on to accuse China of trying to hold the world “captive” through its control of rare earth materials. “They have quietly built a monopoly position on critical elements — a rather sinister and hostile move, to say the least,” he wrote. “But the U.S. has monopoly positions too, much stronger and more far-reaching than China’s. I have just not chosen to use them — until now.”
President Trump said he had not spoken with Xi directly about the new export restrictions, calling them “a real surprise” to the United States and “to all the leaders of the free world.” He noted that a planned meeting with Xi at the upcoming APEC summit in South Korea may now be canceled.
“Depending on what China says about the hostile order they have just put out, I will be forced, as President of the United States of America, to financially counter their move,” Trump said. “For every element that they have monopolized, we have two. I never thought it would come to this, but perhaps the time has come.”
He concluded by saying his administration is “calculating a massive increase of tariffs on Chinese products entering the United States,” and that “many other countermeasures” are under serious review.
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