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China said Sunday that it "is not afraid" of a trade war with the United States after President Donald Trump announced sweeping new tariffs of 100% on Chinese imports, accusing Washington of hypocrisy over Beijing's recent export curbs on rare earth materials.
A spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce described the U.S. response as a "textbook double standard," asserting that China's measures are "legitimate and consistent with international law." The statement marked Beijing's first official reaction since Trump's announcement Friday, which rattled global markets and erased nearly $2 trillion in U.S. equity value in a single day.
"China's position on the trade war is consistent: we do not want it, but we are not afraid of it," the spokesperson said. "For a long time, the United States has overstretched the concept of national security, abused export control, and taken discriminatory actions against China."
The new Chinese restrictions, introduced Thursday, tighten licensing requirements for exporting rare earth minerals and related technologies. The controls also extend to intellectual property and manufacturing processes involving refining or magnet-making — materials critical for electric vehicles, defense equipment, and electronics.
China, which supplies about 70% of the world's rare earths, said the move was intended to "safeguard world peace and regional stability" amid rising geopolitical tensions. It emphasized that the curbs "do not constitute export bans" and that civilian-use applications would continue to be approved.
The U.S., however, views the move as economic coercion. U.S. Trade Representative Jamison Greer told Fox News on Sunday that Washington had not been informed of the new controls beforehand, calling them "a power grab that weaponizes supply chains."
Hours after Beijing's announcement, Trump vowed to double existing tariffs on Chinese goods and impose U.S. export controls on "critical software" starting Nov. 1. "There is no way that China should be allowed to hold the world captive," he wrote on Truth Social.
Despite escalating tensions, analysts said Beijing's restrained tone, avoiding immediate retaliatory tariffs, suggests it may be leaving room for negotiation ahead of a planned meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month.
