Trump Says He May Impose New Tariffs On ‘Hostile’ China: ‘No Reason To Meet Xi Jinping’

US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping

US President Donald Trump accused China of launching a “hostile” trade offensive by imposing new export controls on rare earth elements and other key materials, warning that Washington could respond with a “massive increase of tariffs” on Chinese imports.

In a lengthy post on his social media platform Truth Social, Donald Trump said Beijing’s new policy appeared designed to “hold the world captive” by restricting exports of critical resources, including rare earths and magnets used in manufacturing and technology.

“Some very strange things are happening in China! They are becoming very hostile, and sending letters to countries throughout the world that they want to impose export controls on each and every element of production having to do with rare earths,” Donald Trump wrote.

He called the move “a rather sinister and hostile act” that would “clog markets and make life difficult for virtually every country.”

Donald Trump said the United States held “much stronger” monopoly positions than China in other strategic sectors but had so far “chosen not to use them.” He warned that China’s actions had left him “no choice” but to consider financial countermeasures, including raising tariffs on Chinese goods entering the United States.

“One of the policies we are calculating at this moment is a massive increase of tariffs on Chinese products… There are many other countermeasures under serious consideration,” Donald Trump said.

The post marks one of Donald Trump’s sharpest rebukes of China since returning to office in January. He claimed Beijing’s timing was “especially inappropriate,” coming on the same day that he announced a ceasefire in the Middle East, which he described as “peace in the region after three thousand years of fighting.”

Donald Trump said he had been scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the upcoming APEC summit in South Korea but suggested there was now “no reason to do so.”

“I have not spoken to President Xi because there was no reason to do so,” he wrote, calling China’s letter on export controls “a real surprise… not only to me, but to all the leaders of the Free World.”

China is the world’s dominant producer of rare earth elements, which are essential for electronics, electric vehicles and military technology. Any restriction on their export could have sweeping global economic implications.

Donald Trump said other countries had contacted the United States expressing anger and concern about China’s move, warning that “things that were routine are no longer routine at all.”

He concluded his post by assuring that the US had “two of every element China has monopolized” and would act decisively to counter any economic coercion.

“Ultimately, though potentially painful, it will be a very good thing in the end for the U.S.A.,” Donald Trump wrote.