President Donald Trump has threatened massive tariff hikes on U.S. imports from China, sending stocks tumbling amid fears of another global trade war.
In a lengthy social media tirade on Friday, Trump also suggested he would pull out of an expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, accusing Beijing of “becoming very hostile” and trying to hold the world “captive” over rare earth minerals.
“I was to meet President Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems to be no reason to do so,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“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,” he added.
“There are many other countermeasures that are, likewise, under serious consideration. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
The remarks sent stocks tumbling on Friday, with the Dow down 550 points, or 1.2%. The S&P 500 fell 1.5% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.1%.
Trump’s latest threat stems from accusations that China is imposing export controls on rare earths, which would hinder a previous agreement to liberalize access to them for US businesses.
The U.S. and China have been engaged in fragile trade talks since May, when the two sides agreed to suspend tariffs of triple digits on each other’s goods.
Since then, officials have held a series of talks on issues such as TikTok, agricultural and rare earths supplied by China, which are used to make components in cars, smartphones and many other items.
But the upcoming APEC meeting was particularly important, because Trump had vowed to use it to confront Xi over Beijing’s refusal to buy American soybeans, which has put the squeeze on farmers in the MAGA heartland.
While China has historically been a top buyer of U.S. soybeans, American tariffs have led the country to place a retaliatory tariff on the U.S, with Beijing now increasingly turning to South America for its produce.
“We’re in the middle of the worst economic downturn that I’ve seen in my 50 years,” John Hansen, the president of the Nebraska Farmers Union, said at a regional meeting in Nebraska, earlier this month.
China has also opened a monopoly investigation into the U.S. tech firm Qualcomm, which has irked Washington.
It has also stated that it will impose new port fees on ships with ties to the US, including those owned or operated by U.S. firms.
“Some very strange things are happening in China!” Trump wrote in his post.
“They are becoming very hostile, and sending letters to Countries throughout the World, that they want to impose Export Controls on each and every element of production having to do with Rare Earths, and virtually anything else they can think of, even if it’s not manufactured in China
“This was a real surprise, not only to me, but to all the Leaders of the Free World.”
