Trump threatens to withdraw from the planned XI meeting

President Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw from his expected meeting with his President Jinping from China after Beijing tightened his rules for export to rare lands.

In a social media publication, Trump said he had not seen “there is no reason” now to meet with his president later this month, accusing China of “becoming very hostile” and trying to keep the world a “captive”.

He also threatened a “mass” increase in tariffs for Chinese goods, raising fears of more escalation of trade tensions between the two economic giants.

The financial markets dropped after the comments, with the S&P 500 declining 1.8% in trade in the middle of the afternoon in New York.

China dominates the production of rare lands and some other key materials that are key components in cars, smartphones and many other items.

The last time Beijing tightened export control – after Trump raised the tariffs for Chinese goods earlier this year – there was a protest from many US companies relying on materials. The Ford car manufacturer even had to pause temporarily.

In addition to tightening the rules for exporting rare earthly, China has opened a monopoly investigation by an American technology company Qualcomm, which may stop the acquisition of another chipmaker.

Although Qualcomm is based in the US, a significant part of its business is concentrated in China.

Beijing also said it would charge new port fees to ships with connections with the United States, including those owned or operated by US companies.

“Some very strange things happen in China!” Trump wrote in a social media publication on Friday. “They become very hostile.”

The US and China have been in a fragile commercial division since May, when the two countries agreed to triple the numbers of the tariffs of the goods of each other who almost stopped trade between the two countries.

Officials have been holding a series of talks since then on issues, including Tiktok, agriculture purchases and trade in rare lands and advanced technologies such as semiconductors.

Both sides were expected to meet again this month at a summit in South Korea.

China expert Jonathan Cine, an associate at the Brukings Institution, said the latest actions are an attempt to form the upcoming negotiations, noting that the recent rare land directive does not come into force immediately.

“He is looking for ways to take the initiative,” he said. “The Trump Administration must play Whack-A-Mole game and deal with these problems when they appear.”

He added that he did not think China was worried about revenge in the United States in response.

“What China took away from the tariffs for Liberation Day and the escalation cycle, followed by de-escalation, is that the Chinese side had a higher pain threshold,” he said. “From their point of view, the Trump administration blinked.”

In previous circles of trade conversations, China is pushing for more free US restrictions on semiconductors. He is also interested in providing more stable tariff policies This would make it easier for his business to be sold in the United States.

Previously, the XI used as a dominance of the country on its side of the production of rare lands.

But the export rules discovered this week, targeted defense manufacturers abroad, which makes them particularly serious, said Grocelin Bascaran, director of the Security Program of Critical Minerals at the Center for Strategic and International Studies based in Washington.

“Nothing makes America move like a focus on our defense industry,” she said. “The US will have to negotiate as we have limited opportunities in the age of growing geopolitical tension and potential conflict we must build our industrial defense base.”

While the Trump-Xi meeting now seems unlikely, she said it wasn’t necessarily completely from the table. D -Ja Bascaran said there was still time and a place for conversation. China’s new rules come into force by December.

“Negotiations are probably inevitable,” she said. “Who makes them and where they happen will be determined with time.”