Trade tensions escalate: Trump slams China’s 'hostile' trade move, threatens massive tariff hike

US President Donald Trump slammed China’s newly announced export and port fee policies, calling them a form of “trade hostility” and vowing to respond with a “massive increase of tariffs on Chinese products” entering the US. 

China’s transport ministry declared that starting Tuesday, vessels owned or operated by US firms or individuals — or those built in the US or flying the American flag — would face additional port fees per voyage. In contrast, ships owned or operated by Chinese entities heading to the US would pay a flat fee of $80 per net tonnage per voyage. 

The decision comes just as global tensions rise over China’s tightening control of rare earth exports — materials essential to electric vehicles, renewable energy systems, and advanced military technologies. 

Trump’s warning 

In a detailed and impassioned post on Truth Social, Trump accused China of pursuing a calculated plan to monopolize rare earth elements and other critical materials, likening the move to economic coercion. 

“Some very strange things are happening in China! They are becoming very hostile,” Trump wrote. 

“They want to impose Export Controls on each and every element of production having to do with Rare Earths — and virtually anything else they can think of… Nobody has ever seen anything like this. Essentially, it would clog the markets and make life difficult for virtually every country in the world, especially for China.” 

Trump said that the US had been approached by “other countries extremely angry at this great trade hostility”, which he described as sudden and unexpected given that relations between Washington and Beijing had improved over the past six months. 

“I have always felt that they’ve been lying in wait, and now I have been proven right,” he continued. “There is no way China should be allowed to hold the world ‘captive’… But the US has monopoly positions also, much stronger and more far-reaching than China’s. I have just not chosen to use them — until now!” 

Trump added that he was reconsidering his planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the upcoming APEC summit in South Korea, saying “there seems to be no reason to do so.” 

He also tied the timing of China’s policy shift to broader geopolitical developments, noting, “The Chinese letters were especially inappropriate in that this was the day that, after three thousand years of bedlam and fighting, there is peace in the Middle East. I wonder if that timing was coincidental?” 

Beijing expands rare earth curbs 

China’s export policy shift goes beyond port fees. On October 9, Beijing expanded export restrictions on rare earth metals and associated technologies, citing national security and military-use concerns. 

Under the new rules, exporters will now need government licenses to ship equipment and technologies used in rare earth mining, smelting, separation, magnet manufacturing, recycling, and even maintenance of production lines. 

The move effectively extends Beijing’s grip over one of the world’s most strategically important supply chains, sparking alarm across industrial economies dependent on these materials. 

According to a report by The Economic Times, China has also paused shipments of heavy rare earth magnets to India, demanding that New Delhi provide written assurances that the imports will be used only for domestic purposes and not re-exported to the United States. 

Beijing reportedly wants India to adopt export control commitments similar to those under the Wassenaar Arrangement, an international pact governing trade in dual-use goods and technologies. While India is a signatory to Wassenaar, China is not, but it has nonetheless pressed for similar compliance standards. 

Indian companies have already provided end-user certificates (EUCs) confirming that the imported magnets won’t be used in weapons of mass destruction, but New Delhi has not yet accepted Beijing’s broader demand for binding export control guarantees. 

Global supply chains under new strain 

The twin developments — China’s rare earth export curbs and extra port fees targeting US vessels — have deepened fears of a new wave of global trade instability. Analysts say the moves could disrupt high-tech manufacturing, renewable energy production, and defense supply chains worldwide. 

Trump’s promise to retaliate with tariffs marks a potential renewed escalation of the US-China trade war, risking further volatility in global markets. 

“Ultimately, though potentially painful, it will be a very good thing for the U.S.A.,” Trump concluded in his post, asserting that Washington would financially counter Beijing’s every move.