BEIJING: Striking a conciliatory tone, President Donald Trump said the US wants to help China, not hurt it, after China accused the United States of “double standards” in response to the US warning about an additional 100 per cent tariff on the world’s second-largest economy.

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 Nov 1, and threatened to cancel a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Trump claims US wants to help China, not hurt it

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 30pc 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 10pc.

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

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.

Later, in his post on Truth Social, President Trump said, “The USA wants to help China, not hurt it!!!”, adding that President Xi Jinping “… doesn’t want Depression for his country”.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2025