Trump cancels possible meeting with China’s Xi over rare earth dispute

President Donald Trump canceled efforts to arrange a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and threatened to impose 100% tariffs on China, after the country tightened its export controls on rare earth minerals this week.

“Based on the fact that China has taken this unprecedented stance, and speaking only on behalf of the United States, and not other countries that have been similarly threatened, beginning on November 1, 2025 (or earlier, depending on any other actions or changes taken by China), the United States of America will impose a 100% tariff on China, in addition to any tariff it currently pays,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday afternoon. “Also on November 1, we will impose export controls on all critical software.”

Trump’s comments on his social media platform followed an earlier post, in which the president accused China of “getting very hostile.” Trump accused the Chinese of “sending letters” to various countries, telling them “they want to impose export controls on every item of production related to rare earths, and virtually everything they can think of, even if it’s not made in China.”

TOP INSURANCE CEO IN HOT SEAT AFTER SCATHING AD CAMPAIGN EXPOSES CHINA TIES

“We have never seen anything like this,” Trump added in his message.

Trump canceled plans for a possible meeting with Xi after China decided this week to tighten export controls on rare earth minerals. (Pedro Pardo – Piscine/Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The president said his relationship with China over the past six months had been “very good” and called the export crackdown “surprising.”

“I always felt they were waiting for them, and now, as usual, I was right!” Trump said Friday.

The administration had suggested that Trump might meet with Xi at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit later this month in South Korea, but “now there seems to be no reason to do so,” he said.

US LOOKS TO FINLAND TO FILL ‘ICEBREAKER GAP’ IN ARCTIC AS RUSSIA, CHINA EXPAND POLAR PRESENCE

Over the past few decades, China has gained a dominant position in the rare earth minerals and magnets industry and now uses this control – vital to global electronics – as political leverage.

“Very strange things are happening in China!” Trump wrote at Truth Social. “They’re becoming very hostile and sending letters to countries around the world saying they want to impose export controls on every single item of production related to rare earths, and virtually everything they can think of, even if it’s not made in China.” (Reuters)

“There is no way China is allowed to hold the world ‘captive,’ but that appears to have been its plan for some time, starting with the ‘Magnets’ and other items it has quietly accumulated into a monopoly position, a sinister and hostile move to say the least,” Trump continued in his Friday Truth Social posts. The president added in his articles on Truth Social on Friday that China’s decision would impact “ALL countries,” and said it was a plan “designed by them years ago” that represents “a moral disgrace in dealing with other nations.”

“It is impossible to believe that China would have taken such a step, but they did, and the rest is history,” Trump lamented.

US diplomat fired for romantic relationship with woman with ties to Chinese Communist Party

The world’s two largest economies have been locked in trade negotiations for months, imposing tariffs on each other.

China announced Thursday that it was expanding export controls on five more rare earth metals – holmium, erbium, thulium, europium and ytterbium – adding to the seven restricted in April.

China has also restricted exports of technology used to refine rare earth minerals.

China cracked down on exports of five more minerals on Thursday. (Sergei Bobylev, Sputnik, Kremlin swimming pool photo via AP)

China has cited national security concerns to justify these restrictions. “Rare earth-related items have dual-use properties for both civilian and military applications. Implementing export controls on these items is an international practice,” said a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce.

Rare earth metals are essential both for commercial goods – including electric cars, appliances, lithium batteries and camera lenses – and essential for the U.S. defense industry.

Rare earths are also used to produce semiconductors essential for artificial intelligence processing.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

By 2024, China mines about 60% of the world’s rare earth minerals and processes nearly 90%, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The Trump administration has invested heavily in domestic rare earth mining and processing to reduce U.S. dependence on China.