Hong Kong
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n Beijing has vowed countermeasures against Washington if US President Donald Trump makes good on his threat to impose new 100% tariffs<\/a> on Chinese imports.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump\u2019s latest threat came after China unleashed a raft of export restrictions<\/a> on rare earth minerals last week. The escalating tensions threaten to derail months of progress in trade talks.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cResorting to threats of high tariffs is not the right way to engage with China,\u201d a Ministry of Commerce spokesperson said Sunday, in Beijing\u2019s first comments on the threat.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIf the US persists in acting unilaterally, China will resolutely take corresponding measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,\u201d the spokesperson added. \u201cOur position on a tariff war remains consistent \u2013 we do not want one, but we are not afraid of one.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The rapid escalation of trade tensions between the world\u2019s two largest economies has sunk stocks<\/a>, rattling investors and industries by igniting fears of a repeat of the tit-for-tat tariff battle in spring, when levies on Chinese and American imports soared to around 145% and 120% respectively.\n <\/p>\n \n It also adds fresh uncertainty into the ongoing trade talks between the two nations. Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping were expected to hold a highly anticipated meeting in South Korea in two weeks\u2019 time but Trump, citing the rare earths issue, has cast doubt<\/a> on that meeting happening.\n <\/p>\n \n Beijing shows no sign of backing down, with the ministry spokesperson instead urging Washington to \u201cpromptly correct its wrong approach\u201d and \u201cpreserve the hard-won progress in negotiations.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The commerce ministry described the new rules on rare earths as a \u201clegitimate move\u201d and blamed Washington for the latest escalation, pointing to the Trump administration\u2019s introduction of a series of new restrictive measures against China within two weeks of the latest round of trade talks in Madrid<\/a> in September.\n <\/p>\n \n Since then, Washington has added multiple Chinese firms to its export control list, expanding its controls to cover listed companies\u2019 subsidiaries<\/a>, as well as imposing special port fees for Chinese ships.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe US actions have seriously harmed China\u2019s interests and undermined the atmosphere of bilateral economic and trade talks. China firmly opposes these moves,\u201d the spokesperson said.\n <\/p>\n \n The sweeping new rare earth controls announced by Beijing included an expanded list of restricted minerals and extended curbs targeting their production technologies and overseas use, including for military and semiconductor applications.\n <\/p>\n \n That is expected to put significant pressure on global industries and tech supply chains which rely on these minerals to produce everything from everyday electronics, semiconductors and automobiles to fighter jets.\n <\/p>\n \n On Truth Social<\/a>, Trump had described<\/a> China\u2019s \u201csurprising\u201d move as \u201cextremely hostile\u201d and a \u201cmoral disgrace in dealing with other nations.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n But experts said Beijing\u2019s measures broadly mirror restrictions Washington has imposed on semiconductors over the years, which limit the export of chips or chipmaking equipment to China \u2013 whether from the US or from a third country where it was made with US technology.\n <\/p>\n \n China\u2019s commerce ministry said Washington\u2019s reaction to its new rare earths rules showcase its \u201cdouble standards.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cFor a long time, the United States has overstretched the concept of national security and abused export controls, adopting discriminatory measures against China, and imposing unilateral \u2018long-arm jurisdiction\u2019 restrictions on a wide range of products,\u201d the spokesperson said. The US export control list covers more than 3,000 items \u2014 compared with just over 900 on China\u2019s list, they added.\n <\/p>\n \n Beijing has long criticized Washington for exerting control beyond its borders through export rules that bar third-country companies from supplying China with chips made using American technology. But China\u2019s move this week signaled a shift in its strategy, by adopting similar tactics.\n <\/p>\n \n This story has been updated with additional context.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hong Kong \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Beijing has vowed countermeasures against Washington if US President Donald Trump makes good on his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-73582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}