@cspanofficial: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday said China “can’t be trusted” after the country slapped harsh export controls on rare earths, which the Trump administration called a “global supply chain power grab.” “Make no mistake, this is China versus the world. They have put these unacceptable export controls on the entire world,” he said at a press conference alongside U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. “China is a command-and-control economy, and we and our allies will neither be commanded nor controlled. They are a state economy, and we are not going to let a group of bureaucrats in Beijing try to manage the global supply chains.” Beijing on Thursday announced it would increase curbs on its export of rare earth metals, which are critical for manufacturing semiconductors, cellphones, batteries, electric vehicles, and a host of other modern gadgets. In response, President Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Chinese goods as well as export controls on “any and all critical software.” The moves risk reigniting the trade war between the world’s two largest economies that had largely gone dormant after a series of bilateral meetings over the summer. President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet in South Korea at the end of the month. Secretary Bessent said that U.S. auto companies had informed the Trump administration that rare earths and magnets had stopped flowing from China. “When we asked the Chinese about this, they said, ‘Oh, it probably had something to do with the holiday,’” he said. “They can’t be trusted with the global supply chain.” Nevertheless, the secretary said he remained “optimistic” that the situation could be deescalated. #scottbessent #cspan #treasurysecretary

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Wednesday 15 October 2025 19:02:57 GMT