Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has suggested that an extended tariff truce with China is still possible. That comes as rhetoric between the administration and Beijing grows heated.
Chinese state media is rallying the public and posting old propaganda footage, but officials are also careful to leave room for talks with President Trump.
Chinese state media is rallying the public and posting old propaganda footage, but officials are also careful to leave room for talks with President Trump.
President Trump has threatened to cancel a meeting with China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, who spoke at the Global Leaders’ Meeting on Women in Beijing on Monday.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, left, with the U.S. trade representative, Jamieson Greer. Mr. Bessent said the United States must become less reliant on China for rare-earth minerals.
Xi Jinping’s need to project strength before a crucial meeting of Communist Party leaders may help explain why Beijing announced new rare earth controls.
The president’s bellicose vow of steep new tariffs, followed quickly by a more conciliatory message, pointed to an internal tug of war over his approach.
Stocks in the United States recovered from their worst decline in months, after President Trump softened his tariff threat on China. Earlier, markets in Asia dropped.
The president made the threat after Beijing imposed new global restrictions on the use of rare earth minerals, which are vital supplies for U.S. makers of chips and batteries.
The move is Beijing’s latest attempt to tighten control over global production of the metals, which are essential to the manufacture of computer chips.
After Beijing exerted its power over the valuable magnets as leverage, other countries started to add production, but only incrementally. And China is far ahead.
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