Washington (AFP) – US President Donald Trump slammed China’s halt of American soybean purchases as an “economically hostile act,” warning Tuesday that his country could in turn stop buying cooking oil from the world’s second-biggest economy. “We are considering terminating business with China having to do with cooking oil, and other elements of trade, as retribution,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
His comments online, however, came shortly after he appeared to soothe rising temperatures between Washington and Beijing. “We have a fair relationship with China, and I think it’ll be fine. And if it’s not, that’s okay too,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies have reignited in Trump’s second presidency, with tit-for-tat duties reaching triple-digit levels at one point. In an interview with the Financial Times on Monday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent slammed Beijing, accusing it of seeking to harm the global economy following China’s sweeping new export controls in the strategic field of rare earths.
Trump, in turn, maintained that Washington has “to be careful with China.” “I have a great relationship with President Xi (Jinping), but sometimes it gets testy, because China likes to take advantage of people,” Trump said. “Where the punches are thrown, you got to put up the blocks.” On Truth Social, Trump stressed that China’s halt in purchases was causing difficulty for US soybean farmers. US imports of animal fats, greases, and processed oils, including those used in cooking oil, have skyrocketed in recent years — driven by rising domestic production of biomass-based diesel, according to government data.
While tensions between Washington and Beijing have de-escalated from their peak, the truce remains shaky. After Beijing imposed fresh controls on the export of rare earth technologies and items, Trump said he would roll out an additional 100-percent tariff on the country’s goods from November 1. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC separately that this timeline could be accelerated. “A lot depends on what the Chinese do,” Greer said in the interview, adding that Beijing had “chosen to make this major escalation.”
China is the world’s leading producer of the minerals used to make magnets crucial to the auto, electronic, and defense industries. Bessent told the Financial Times: “This is a sign of how weak their economy is, and they want to pull everybody else down with them.” Last week, Trump also threatened to scrap a planned meeting with Xi at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit starting later this month. China over the weekend accused the United States of “double standards” after Trump’s threat of further tariffs. On Tuesday, China said it was ready to “fight to the end” in a trade war with the United States.
© 2024 AFP
