US president Donald Trump on Friday accused China of taking a “sinister and hostile” step after Beijing imposed sweeping new export controls on rare earth elements, warning that he could respond with a “massive increase of tariffs” on Chinese goods entering the United States.In a post on Truth Social, the US President said “some very strange things are happening in China”, accusing Beijing of becoming “very hostile” by sending letters to countries around the world announcing plans to impose export controls on critical materials used in global manufacturing. “Nobody has ever seen anything like this,” Trump wrote, adding that such a move would “clog the markets, and make life difficult for virtually every country in the world, especially for China.,The 47th POTUS said he had not spoken to Xi Jinping and no longer saw a reason to meet him at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit later this month, saying the Chinese letters were “especially inappropriate.” He concluded: “I never thought it would come to this, but perhaps, as with all things, the time has come. Ultimately, though potentially painful, it will be a very good thing, in the end, for the USA.”Trump said the move came as a “real surprise” given what he described as a previously “very good” six-month relationship with Beijing. “I have always felt that they’ve been lying in wait, and now, as usual, I have been proven right!” he said. “There is no way that China should be allowed to hold the world ‘captive,’ but that seems to have been their plan for quite some time, starting with the ‘magnets’ and other elements that they have quietly amassed into somewhat of a monopoly position a rather sinister and hostile move, to say the least.,Beijing’s ministry of commerce announced the new rules on Thursday, requiring special approval for any exports of rare earth elements or products that contain even trace amounts of them. China, which dominates global rare earth production and processing, said the curbs are meant to “safeguard national security.” The restrictions are likely to impact key industries, from defense to electronics, that depend on the minerals.Trump suggested the timing of the Chinese announcement, coinciding with what he called a day of “peace in the Middle East,” was no coincidence. “I wonder if that timing was coincidental?” he wrote. He added that he would “financially counter their move,” warning that Washington was preparing tough measures. “One of the policies that we are calculating at this moment is a massive increase of tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States of America. There are many other countermeasures that are, likewise, under serious consideration.”
