Main news content: The fragile truce in the US-China trade conflict has shattered, escalating tensions between the world’s two largest economies. On October 10, US President Donald Trump revived the trade war by announcing additional levies of 100% on China’s US-bound exports, set to take effect on November 1. This move, which comes on top of existing duties, also includes new export controls on “any and all critical software” and was prompted by China’s perceived “extraordinarily aggressive” trade actions, notably the expansion of its control over critical raw materials.
Just a day earlier, on October 9, China expanded its export controls over rare earth minerals to include five more heavy elements, effectively tightening its global dominance on materials crucial for the energy transition, defense, and high-tech industries. Beijing subsequently denounced the new US tariffs as “hypocritical” and responded with its own countermeasure, announcing new port fees on US-owned, operated, or flagged vessels starting October 14. These tit-for-tat actions have rapidly intensified the conflict, with Washington also threatening export controls on Boeing plane parts as part of its retaliation against the Chinese rare earth curbs.The sudden escalation ends an uneasy framework agreement struck in September, which involved a temporary tariff truce and progress on the TikTok ownership issue. Trump’s recent actions, including expressing doubt about meeting President Xi Jinping later this month at the APEC forum in South Korea, signal a full-blown return to trade confrontation. The renewed trade war is not only aimed at narrowing the bilateral trade deficit and crippling the fentanyl trade but is also focused on securing strategic dominance in critical technology and supply chains, particularly the vital semiconductor and rare earth sectors.
