President Donald Trump said Friday that his planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping might be canceled following what he called “very hostile” trade actions by Beijing.
In a lengthy Truth Social post, Trump said that China was sending letters to countries around the world, threatening to impose export controls on rare-earth minerals.
“Some very strange things are happening in China! They are becoming very hostile, and sending letters to Countries throughout the World, that 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, even if it’s not manufactured in China,” Trump said.
Trump said he had been contacted by other countries that were “extremely angry” about the export restrictions China rolled out on Thursday.
The president added that his meeting with Xi at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in South Korea later this month might not occur due to China’s actions.
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“Things that were routine are no longer routine at all. I have not spoken to President Xi because there was no reason to do so. This was a real surprise, not only to me, but to all the Leaders of the Free World. I was to meet President Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems to be no reason to do so,” Trump said.
Trump called China’s move “surprising,” saying the two countries had maintained a “very good” relationship over the past six months. Last month, Trump thanked Xi for supporting a deal to make TikTok American-owned.
“I have always felt that they’ve been lying in wait, and now, as usual, I have been proven right! There is no way that China should be allowed to hold the World ‘captive,’ but that seems to have been their plan for quite some time,” Trump said.
Trump added in his post that he would take financial countermeasures if China continued to move forward with the export restrictions. He said that for every element China tried to monopolize, the United States would have two. He also noted that there may be additional tariffs imposed on Chinese goods.
“Ultimately, though potentially painful, it will be a very good thing, in the end, for the U.S.A. One of the Policies that we are calculating at this moment is a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States of America. There are many other countermeasures that are, likewise, under serious consideration,” Trump said.