US stock markets retreated Friday after President Donald Trump reignited trade tensions with China, threatening via social media to impose a 100 percent tariff on Chinese products starting in November.
The warning followed China’s announcement a day earlier of new restrictions on rare earth exports—materials vital to US industries including electronics, defense, and automotive manufacturing. Trump accused Beijing of taking “very hostile” steps by limiting shipments of minerals like neodymium, used in high-performance magnets.
Starting December 1, Beijing will require foreign entities to obtain a license to export any product containing more than 0.1 percent rare earths sourced from China—or manufactured using Chinese extraction, refining, magnet-making, or recycling technologies.
“This affects ALL countries, without exception, and was obviously a plan devised by them years ago,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “It is absolutely unheard of in international trade, and a moral disgrace in dealing with other nations.” He called the move “an extraordinarily aggressive position.”
Tariffs on Chinese imports currently stand at 30 percent, down from a peak of 145 percent earlier this year after limited breakthroughs in trade talks. Trump also indicated the U.S. may impose export controls on critical software, further escalating economic pressure.
Markets reacted sharply. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 1.25 percent, and the Nasdaq slid 1.75 percent, led by tech and industrial shares. The renewed trade threat unsettled investors who had hoped tensions were easing, and underscored how dependent global supply chains remain on China’s dominance in rare earth production—a strategic vulnerability that gives Beijing leverage in trade disputes.
President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to meet later this month in South Korea at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit—a face-to-face encounter that could help defuse rising trade tensions and avert a conflict with serious consequences for the global economy.
—
