US President Donald Trump has made a harsh statement, accusing China of exerting economic pressure on the world and trying to establish a monopoly position. In his statement, he referred to letters sent by China to various countries, in which, according to Trump, Beijing intends to impose strict controls on the export of rare earth metals and other elements.
"Extraordinary things are happening in China. They are becoming extremely hostile and sending letters to various countries stating that they want to impose export controls on every element related to rare earth metals - even on elements that are not even produced in China," Trump wrote.
According to him, these steps would not only disrupt market functioning but also make it difficult for the global economic system to operate. Trump believes that such a policy would harm China itself the most.
"No one has ever seen anything like this. But in fact, it would mean closing markets and making life difficult for almost every country in the world, especially China," he noted.
Trump also emphasized that the United States has its own monopoly positions, but has chosen not to use them.
"Our relationship with China has been perfect for the last six months, which makes this step in the trade sphere even more unexpected. I always felt that they were waiting for something, and now, as always, I was right. You can't let China hold the world hostage. But it seems that this was their planned strategy. The United States also holds monopoly positions, far more powerful and larger than China's. I just never used them because there was never a need for it," he said.
Trump said that he was scheduled to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during the APEC summit in South Korea. However, against the background of current developments, he says such a meeting no longer makes sense.
"I was supposed to meet with President Xi in two weeks at the APEC summit in South Korea, but now it seems like that doesn't make sense anymore," he said.
Trump also revealed that the United States is prepared to respond with a range of economic countermeasures. In particular, he announced that the issue of sharply increasing tariffs on goods imported from China is being discussed.
"One of the policies that is currently being discussed is sharply increasing tariffs on goods imported from China into the United States. Many other countermeasures are also under serious consideration," Trump concluded.
