Zürcher Nachrichten - China accuses US of 'double standards' over new tariffs threat

Trump reignited his trade war with China on Friday, accusing Beijing of imposing "extraordinarily aggressive" new export curbs relating to rare earths.

He announced extra levies -- plus export controls on "critical software" -- due to take effect from November 1, and threatened to cancel a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

On Sunday, China's Ministry of Commerce called Trump's tariff threat a "typical example of 'double standards'".

The ministry said Washington had ratcheted up economic measures against Beijing since September.

"Threatening high tariffs at every turn is not the right approach to engaging with China," it said in an online statement.

Chinese goods currently face US tariffs of 30 percent under levies that Trump brought in while accusing Beijing of aiding in the fentanyl trade, and over alleged unfair practices.

China's retaliatory tariffs are currently at 10 percent.

Rare earths have been a major sticking point in recent trade negotiations between the two superpowers.

They are critical to manufacturing everything from smartphones and electric vehicles to military hardware and renewable energy technology.

China dominates global production and processing of these materials, and on Thurday announced new controls on the export of technologies used for the mining and processing of critical minerals.

In response, Trump said on his Truth Social platform that China had taken a "very hostile" stance and should not be "allowed to hold the World 'captive'".

The US leader also threatened to pull out of a mooted meeting with Xi at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea later this month.

It would have been the first face-to-face encounter between the leaders of the world's two largest economies since Trump returned to power in January.

- Tensions flare again -

A few months ago, Beijing and Washington agreed an uneasy truce in their tit-for-tat trade war that started earlier this year and threw bilateral trade into serious jeopardy.

But tensions have boiled up again in recent days.

China said on Friday that it would impose "special port fees" on ships operated by and built in the US, calling it a "defensive action".

It took aim at the US's own port fees charged on Chinese ships, claiming they "severely harmed China's interests".

Washington announced those fees in April as part of an effort to revive American shipbuilding after a decades-long decline that has seen China and other Asian nations come to dominate the industry.

R.Bernasconi--NZN