On Wednesday, October 16, US officials lambasted China’s imposition of rare-earth export controls as a danger to global supply chains. However, they stated that Beijing could change course and avoid steps by Washington to disengage from the world’s second-largest economy.
In a press conference, US Trade Representative Jamieson Freer highlighted that China’s new export controls were a global supply-chain power grab. Ironically, the US and its allies will not accept these controls. On the Contrary, he and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent underscored that Washington did not want to intensify the conflict, which has outraged the financial markets and disturbed the US-China diplomatic ties. Furthermore, he informed that China has yet to implement the revised regulatory system for rare earths and could still withdraw, just as the US had not implemented a retaliatory 100% rise in tariffs on Chinese imports.
China’s actions of export controls agitated United States
Since China announced the rare-earth export measures, the two countries appeared to enter in an all out trade war as the US president Trump responded these controls by threatening to raise tariffs on Chinese goods by 100%. However, Bessent, Greer and several other officials seek to restore US-China ties by stressing on wish to avoid the intensification of these issues. Apparently, Greer and Bessent, met personally with senior Chinese officials around four times in four different cities in the latest months, and expressed agitation over China’s actions threatening global supply chains.
Bessent said: “The US does not want to disengage from China, but would have to take action if Beijing turned out to be an unreliable supplier, adding that Chinese officials told US auto companies that a slowdown in shipments of rare earth magnets was probably something to do with a holiday.