China accuses US of 'double standards' over new tariff threat

Washington announced an additional 100 per cent tariff on China’s US-bound exports, in retaliation for Beijing’s expanded curbs on rare-earth minerals.

The American and Chinese flags are photographed on the negotiating table, during a bilateral meeting between the United States and China, in Geneva, Switzerland on May 10, 2025. (File photo: Reuters/Handout/Keystone/EDA/Martial Trezzini)

BEIJING: China accused the United States of “double standards” on Sunday (Oct 12), after President Donald Trump announced an additional 100 percent tariff on the world’s second-largest economy.

“The relevant US statement is a typical example of ‘double standards’,” an unnamed Ministry of Commerce spokesperson said in a statement published online.

Trump said on Friday that he would impose the extra levies, due to take effect on Nov 1, in response to what he called “extraordinarily aggressive” new Chinese export curbs on rare-earth minerals.

He also called into question the prospects for a previously announced meeting set for three weeks from now with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, saying on Truth Social that “now there seems to be no reason to do so”.

“I haven’t cancelled,” Trump later told reporters at the White House. Beijing has never confirmed the meeting.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/china-accuses-us-double-standards-over-new-tariff-threat-5396801