Trump threatens to hit China with 100 percent tariffs starting November 1

1. The following are excerpts from a news report in POLITICO, dated 10 October 2025:

(Begin excerpts)
President Donald Trump on Friday said he will set a 100 percent tariff on Chinese goods starting on Nov. 1 and will “impose Export Controls on any and all critical software.”

Trump’s announcement on social media came after he shared a post earlier in the day threatening “massive” new tariffs on China and hinted he might cancel an upcoming summit meeting with President Xi Jinping in response to a move by Beijing earlier this week to restrict exports of rare earth magnets and raw materials.

“This was a real surprise, not only to me, but to all the Leaders of the Free World,” Trump said in a lengthy morning post on Truth Social. “I was to meet President Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems to be no reason to do so.”

The 100 percent duty, which Trump said could come “sooner, depending on any further actions or changes taken by China,” would re-establish what was effectively an embargo on Chinese goods in the spring.....

In his first Truth Social post, Trump wrote that China had been sending letters to countries throughout the world informing them of plans to restrict exports “of each and every element of production having to do with Rare Earths, and virtually anything else they can think of, even if it’s not manufactured in China.”

“Nobody has ever seen anything like this but, essentially, it would ‘clog’ the Markets, and make life difficult for virtually every Country in the World, especially for China. We have been contacted by other Countries who are extremely angry at this great Trade hostility, which came out of nowhere,” Trump wrote.

China should not be allowed to exert “monopoly” power over the exports of rare earth magnets, which are used in a number of high-tech, green energy and medical goods, Trump continued.

But if Beijing follows that course, “the U.S. has Monopoly positions also, much stronger and more far reaching than China’s,” he added.

During the late afternoon White House event, Trump said the United States could also restrict exports of aircraft parts and potentially other goods to China.

“We have many things [China needs], including a big thing is airplanes. But they have a lot of Boeing planes, and they need parts and lots of things like that,” Trump said....

Trump’s trade moves have already significantly reduced trade with China, which was the United States’ third-largest trading partner in 2024.

U.S. imports from the Asian heavyweight totaled $194 billion in the first seven months of 2025, compared with $239 billion in the same period last year. U.S. exports to China in January through July totaled $65 billion, compared with $82 billion in the same seven months in 2024.

U.S. exports of agricultural products, particularly soybeans, to China have been hit particularly hard, prompting the Trump administration to consider ways to provide billions of dollars of subsidy payments to farmers. (End excerpts)

Source Link: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/10/trump-trade-war-china-00601968

2. Poster's Comment:

(a) In an earlier post, I pointed out the first tactic of "The Art of the Deal" is "Repeating a falsehood till it becomes a reality". In this post, netizens will find two more tactics. The second tactic of "The Art of the Deal" is "To keep winning until you are tired of winning". To the Dealmaker, there are no such things as the so-called "Grand Bargain" or any compromise or a "win-win" deal or "meeting halfway" with anybody. Hence it won't be surprising that since his first tenure as the US president in January 20, 2017, the US has been piling pressure after pressure on China with massive tariffs and endless trade or technological curbs, with the result that bilateral trade has been reduced to a trickle. Now he threatens to set a 100 percent tariff on Chinese goods starting on Nov. 1 and “impose Export Controls on any and all critical software.” Comparing the current state of bilateral trade relations with a corpse, does it serve any purpose to pump a hundred more bullets into a dead body? Better save your bullets for the next rising economic superpower!

(b) Since the so-called "Liberation Day", the US has imposed a blanket 10% tariff on imports for all countries. Selected countries, especially those that run a trade surplus with the US, are subjected to as high as 50% tariffs. The US focuses solely on the goods trade. It has completely ignored the fact that it runs a surplus with many of its trading partners in services – exporting software services, education, entertainment, financial and business services. Unfortunately for some small countries, they are not let off the hook despite their free trade agreements, zero tariffs on US imports, trade deficits and longstanding friendship with the US. Most laughable of all, even the penguins on uninhabited islands are not spared of the blanket 10% tariff.

(c) The US sweeping tariffs on all countries are reminiscent of its military program called “Operation Ranch Hand,” which involved spraying millions of gallons of chemical herbicides, including Agent Orange, over large areas of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The environmental impact of Agent Orange was catastrophic. The defoliation process killed millions of acres of forests, leaving ecosystems severely disrupted and wildlife populations decimated. Rivers and streams, which were essential to both human life and agriculture, became contaminated by the chemical, further compounding the environmental damage.

Similarly, its sweeping tariffs on all countries, with the aim of making the US the sole country with trade surplus, are akin to global economic imperialism with devastating consequences for the entire world in the years ahead.

US global economic imperialism has not gone unnoticed. For instance, at the end of the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro this year, Brazilian President Lula was defiant when asked by journalists about Trump's tariff threat: "The world has changed. We don't want an emperor. Our countries are sovereign. If Trump issues tariffs, other countries have the right to do the same. There is the reciprocity law. I think it's irresponsible for a president from a country like the U.S. to threaten the world with tariffs on social media. Honestly, there are other forums for the president of a country the size of the United States to talk to other countries."

(d) The third tactic of "The Art of the Deal" is "To do to others as you would have them NOT do to you." Like a school bully, Uncle Sam enjoys bashing his victims. The louder the groans, the more enjoyment the bully gets. However, if a victim hits back, the counter-strike would provoke a violent outburst from the bully with the pledge of more severe punishments and tortures.

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