WASHINGTON, Oct 11: US President Donald Trump has announced plans to impose an additional 100% tariff on Chinese imports starting next month, the BBC reported.
In a post on social media, Trump said his administration would also introduce new export restrictions on critical software. The announcement came shortly after Beijing tightened its export controls on rare earth minerals, prompting Trump to accuse China of acting “hostile” and trying to hold the world “captive,” according to the BBC.
The US president initially hinted he might cancel his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but later told reporters at the White House that he would still attend, though he was unsure if the talks would proceed. Trump’s comments triggered a sharp reaction on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 index closing down 2.7 percent, its largest drop since April, the BBC said.
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China dominates global production of rare earth elements, vital for electric vehicles, smartphones, and advanced military equipment. The BBC noted that when Beijing previously tightened export rules earlier this year, several US firms faced disruptions. Ford Motor Company even had to temporarily halt some manufacturing due to material shortages. China has also launched an antitrust probe into US chipmaker Qualcomm, a move that could delay its planned merger with another semiconductor firm, the BBC reported.
Beijing has said it will impose new port fees on vessels linked to the US, including those owned or operated by American companies. Trump wrote on social media that “strange things are happening in China” and accused Beijing of becoming increasingly antagonistic. The BBC said these developments mark another escalation in the uneasy trade truce that both sides had reached in May, which temporarily paused a damaging tariff war.
Under that earlier détente, the US agreed to reduce some import duties, leaving Chinese goods facing tariffs about 30 percent higher than at the start of the year, while China maintained a 10 percent levy on American products. Since then, negotiators have held multiple discussions on issues such as TikTok, agricultural trade, rare earths, and semiconductor exports, the BBC reported. The two countries had been expected to hold another round of talks this month in South Korea.
According to the BBC, Jonathan Czin of the Brookings Institution said President Xi’s latest export move is designed to gain leverage before negotiations. He said Beijing appears confident that Washington will eventually back down, arguing that China has demonstrated a higher “pain threshold” in previous tariff confrontations.
Gracelin Baskaran of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told the BBC that the new Chinese export measures specifically target overseas defence industries, calling them “particularly serious.” She said the move puts pressure on the US to negotiate because it limits access to critical minerals essential for defence manufacturing. Baskaran added that although a Trump–Xi summit now seems uncertain, negotiations between Washington and Beijing remain likely, since China’s new export restrictions do not take effect until December, the BBC reported.
