The latest salvo came after China restricted its exports of rare earths, which are critical minerals used across industries, from the tech sector to automakers and defense contractors.

Late in the afternoon, Trump took to Truth Social to decry Beijing’s “large scale Export Controls on virtually every product they make.”

“Based on the fact that China has taken this unprecedented position, and speaking only for the U.S.A., and not other Nations who were similarly threatened, starting November 1st, 2025 (or sooner, depending on any further actions or changes taken by China), the United States of America will impose a Tariff of 100% on China, over and above any Tariff that they are currently paying,” he added. “Also on November 1st, we will impose Export Controls on any and all critical software.”

That would bring U.S. tariffs on China to 130%, nearing the 145% rate Trump imposed in April on “Liberation Day” and the immediate aftermath—before the U.S. agreed to put its highest levies on hold while China paused its retaliatory duties as negotiations unfolded.

Stocks and bond yields tumbled as Wall Street braced a potential new round of tit-for-tat retaliation. The S&P 500 plunged 2.7%, suffering its worst selloff since the height of the trade war chaos in April.

China has a stranglehold on rare earths, producing more than 90% of the world’s processed rare earths and rare earth magnets. That has served as a key source of leverage over the U.S.

Meanwhile, grain prices fell after Trump suggested earlier on Friday that he would not meet Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month at an economic summit in South Korea.

That dashed hopes that the two leaders could reach a trade deal that includes Chinese purchases of U.S. soybeans, which historically have been a top export but have failed to draw any orders from China this harvest season.

“Don’t think China’s soybean purchases are going to restart anytime soon … and they now certainly aren’t the biggest item on the bilateral economic agenda,” Brad Setser, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a deputy assistant secretary at the Treasury Department during the Obama administration, posted on X.

Before the flare-up, U.S.-China trade talks had been progressing after Trump reached deals with the European Union, Japan, South Korea and other top trading partners.

But tensions remained, including on the issue of rare earths while the U.S. had moved to restrict other countries’ exports of semiconductor-related products to China.

Also this week, the U.S. announced port fees on Chinese ships, prompting Beijing to impose a similar fee on U.S. ships docking at Chinese ports. China also launched an antitrust investigation into U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm.

Then on Thursday, China’s commerce ministry said that starting on Dec. 1 a license will be required for foreign companies to export products with more than 0.1% of rare earths from China or that are made with Chinese production technology.

“Our relationship with China over the past six months has been a very good one, thereby making this move on Trade an even more surprising one,” Trump said in an earlier Truth Social post. “I have always felt that they’ve been lying in wait, and now, as usual, I have been proven right!”

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China dominates the global industry for extracting and refining the strategic minerals, giving it vital leverage in a renewed trade war this year with Washington.

Since April, Beijing has required licenses for certain exports, sending ripple effects across worldwide manufacturing sectors.

Following a tense summit in July hosted by Beijing, European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said that leaders had agreed to an improved mechanism for Chinese exports of rare earth minerals to the bloc.

But in its annual position paper released Wednesday, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said that “many companies—particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)—are still experiencing significant supply chain disruptions”.

“No long-term, sustainable solution has been put forward,” it said, adding that the Chamber is in “regular contact” with Chinese authorities on the matter.

“We have a number of members who are right now suffering significant losses because of these bottlenecks,” Chamber president Jens Eskelund told journalists.

“We have raised with our members more than 140 applications and it’s a fraction of these so far that have been resolved,” he said.

“So this has not gone away.”

In its latest publication, the lobby representing over 1,600 member companies put forward 1,141 recommendations to Chinese policymakers, aimed at smoothing over various obstacles faced by European firms in the country.

Chief among those hurdles this year, Eskelund said, is a wavering Chinese economy that has struggled to mount a robust rebound since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sluggish consumption, a manufacturing glut and prolonged woes in the country’s vast property sector are among the main challenges now vexing Beijing policymakers and businesses.

In a sign of entrenched woes facing the world’s second-largest economy, data released this week showed factory output and consumption rising in August at their weakest pace in around a year.

“I actually see a greater convergence in terms of the challenges Chinese companies have and the challenges foreign companies have,” said Eskelund.

“The big enemy here—that’s the state of the domestic economy and supply-demand balance,” he said.

“I think we see completely eye-to-eye with the vast majority of Chinese companies.”

Greer said the key industrial components were a focus of negotiations in Stockholm last week that Beijing said led to an extension of their tariff truce. Without going into detail, he said the U.S. secured commitments about their supply on CBS’s Face the Nation aired Sunday.

“We’re focused on making sure that magnets from China to the United States and the adjacent supply chain can flow as freely as it did before the control,” Greer said in the interview, which was taped Friday. “And I would say we’re about halfway there.”

That assessment came some four months after China imposed export controls on rare earth magnets—used in products from home appliances to missiles—in retaliation for U.S. tariff threats. Beijing has agreed to speed up their shipments after Washington suspended sky-high levies on Chinese exports. 

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to make the final call on maintaining the tariff truce, which expires Aug. 12, Greer said.

“We’re working on some technical issues, and we’re talking to the president about it,” he said.

Flows of rare earth magnets from China to the U.S. rose to 353 tons in June, up from just 46 tons in May, according to the latest customs data. Total shipments were still substantially lower than before Beijing launched export controls in early April. 

Greer earlier said Trump’s trade team hopes to be done discussing magnets with China, after he and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrapped up a third round of trade talks with Beijing in the Swedish capital end of July. If the U.S. can get over the magnets issue, it can move to a further discussion of the U.S.-China relationship, he added.

The discussions have helped stabilize relations between the world’s two largest economies, although many frictions remain, including over the U.S.’ curbs on exporting advanced AI chips to its main competitor.

Beijing authorities on Thursday summoned Nvidia Corp. to discuss alleged security vulnerabilities related to its H20 chips. The Trump administration only recently pledged to drop export restrictions on the less-advanced technology to China, in a reversal that spurred talk of a potential broader deal with Beijing.

The Cyberspace Administration of China cited comments by U.S. lawmakers about the need to install tracking capabilities into advanced chips sold to other countries. The agency asked staff at the world’s most valuable company to explain potential risks and provide documents as needed, the CAC said without elaborating.