Rare earths, fentanyl and soybeans are President Donald Trump’s top sticking points with China amid the ongoing trade standoff, he said Sunday, as the countries prepare for a round of talks this week.
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to meet later this month in South Korea. China is betting Trump will blink first in the trade war
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
Rare earths, fentanyl and soybeans are President Donald Trump’s top sticking points with China amid the ongoing trade standoff, he said Sunday, as the countries prepare for a round of talks this week.
“I have a very good relationship with President Xi of China, we’re having disputes on things,” he said on Air Force One. “They’re paying us a lot of money – tremendous amounts of money in tariffs – and they’d probably like it to be less and we’ll work on that, but they have to give us some things.”
“I don’t want them to play the rare earth game with us,” he said. Beijing earlier this month imposed fresh export controls on the minerals that make up critical components in U.S. smartphones, military hardware, autos, and more.
He also wants China to “stop with the fentanyl,” referring to his claim that China has not stopped exports of the drug, thus worsening the opioid epidemic.
And Trump added: “I want them to buy soybeans, one of the things I want is China’s going to buy soybeans.”
China bought $12.6 billion of soybeans last year, but has turned to South American imports this year. That has hit U.S. farmers, who are struggling with lower prices and waiting for government aid. Last week, Trump threatened to stop imports of Chinese cooking oil in retaliation.
He has also threatened a fresh 100% hike on Chinese imports, with the pause on reciprocal tariffs between the U.S. and China running out in November – though he admitted on Friday that the extra tariff is “not sustainable.”
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to meet later this month in South Korea. Before that, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the Chinese vice premier will meet in person this week in Malaysia, following a call on Friday. That could be a crunch moment for whether Trump and Xi’s meeting goes ahead.
In a Monday briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun responded to Trump’s comments: “Tariff and trade wars do not serve any party’s interest. The two sides need to address relevant issues through consultation on the basis of equality, respect and mutual benefit.”
Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported Chinese officials are betting that President Donald Trump's attention toward the stock market serves to their advantage in a trade stand-off with the U.S.
By Beijing's calculus, the U.S. can't afford a prolonged trade war that keeps intensifying with little end in sight, a prospect they believe would tank financial markets and push Trump to make concessions.
—Joseph Zeballos-Roig contributed to this article.
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