US President Donald Trump’s administration vowed on Wednesday to work with its allies and other countries to get an upper hand in its trade talks with China, claiming Beijing’s recent rare earth control as a sign of being an “unreliable partner” that threatens global supply chains.
The remarks marked the latest in a series of threatened countermeasures, as Trump officials have previously announced 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods from November 1 and also struck back on such targets like cooking oil suggested by Trump a day earlier.
“China’s actions have once again demonstrated the risk of being dependent on them, on rare earth,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at a press conference in Washington on Wednesday.
“This is China versus the world,” he said. “If China wants to be an unreliable partner to the world, then the world will have to decouple.”
He added: “We should work together to de-risk and diversify our supply chains, away from China, as quickly as possible.”
Bessent’s comments came at a time when Beijing and Washington showed their muscle ahead of a possible meeting between the US leader and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit starting at the end of October.
Bilateral tension escalated last week when the Chinese authorities announced new curbs on rare earth technologies and “reciprocal” port fees for US vessels.
The elevation of tension also caught many other countries in the middle, including European nations that have long complained about China’s rare earth controls as well as South Korean shipyards sanctioned by Beijing earlier this week.
Bessent headed a variety of bilateral talks with the Chinese delegation this year, including a truce in their Geneva meeting in May.
On Wednesday, to corner China and compel it to retreat from its retaliatory measures, Bessent called on allies in Europe and “democracies” in Asia like India to come together and break Beijing’s stronghold over global critical mineral supply chains.
“This should be a clear sign to our allies that we must work together and work together,” he said.
Speaking with CNBC earlier in the day, Bessent noted that the administration was planning a “fulsome group response”.
“We’re going to be speaking with our European allies ... with Australia, with Canada, India, and the Asian democracies,” he said, adding, “we’re going to have a fulsome group response to this because bureaucrats in China cannot manage the supply chain or the manufacturing process for the rest of the world”.
Washington is close to sealing trade deals with China’s neighbours, including South Korea and Cambodia, while it has already fast-tracked trade negotiations with India.
A trade delegation led by Indian Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal arrived in Washington hours before Bessent made the comments on Wednesday. The talks are expected to be held until Thursday, with a focus on energy imports, critical minerals and soybeans.
Five rounds of trade talks have already been concluded since April. During the discussions, India has shown its willingness to work together on critical minerals and helping American soybean farmers – hit hard by China’s retaliatory measures against Trump’s tariffs.
In return, India hopes to lower the current 50 per cent tariffs the US imposes on its imports, including the 25 per cent levies slapped as punishment for buying Russian energy.
Speaking with reporters later in the day at the White House, Trump claimed that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia”, calling it “a big stop”.
“You know, you can’t do it immediately. It’s a little bit of a process, but the process is going to be over with soon,” Trump said.
As the two leaders, who call each other “friend”, are expected to meet on the sidelines of the Asean leaders’ summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, later this month, both sides are aiming to strive to conclude a bilateral trade deal by next month.
The push to confront China alongside allies was echoed by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who joined Bessnet at the press conference, saying, “we’re in close communication with our allies who have expressed similar views and who are similarly affected”.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington defended China’s actions as consistent with Chinese law and international practice.
“We are willing to strengthen dialogue and exchanges on export controls with all countries to maintain the security and stability of the global supply chain,” said embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu.
Liu added that the Trump administration’s global tariff war made a mockery of normal boundaries and export-control conventions.
“The world will have its own opinion on who is “unreliable” and who is a “threat”,” he said.
Bessent, meanwhile, said the US does not want to decouple but rather to de-risk from China.
He said the two sides are having working-level contacts in Washington on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank annual meeting.
“We’ve had substantial communication over the past few days, and we believe that there will be more forthcoming this week,” he said.
“I believe China is open to discussion, and I am optimistic that this can be de-escalated.”
He also noted that Trump still planned to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Xi, in the near future.
China said earlier that it will “fight to the end” in a trade war with the United States. However, at Tuesday’s media briefing earlier in the day, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman also welcomed dialogues on an equal and mutual respect basis to solve bilateral issues. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
