(NewsNation) — The Trump administration is working to de-escalate tensions with China as the trade war between the two countries has heated up again.
The tension began to ramp up after China began trying to leverage hardline export controls of rare Earth minerals that are needed for chips and batteries, something President Donald Trump called “strange.”
The president also appeared to call off his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and then threatened to add a new, 100% tariff on Chinese goods if the country doesn’t back down.
The White House says talks are continuing between the U.S. and China, with more meetings expected this week.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Trump’s meeting with Xi is still on the calendar despite the threat to massively increase tariffs.
Trump said on social media Sunday that the U.S. did not want to “hurt China” and “it will all be fine.”
China’s commerce ministry said today that the U.S. was attempting to intimidate the country by floating new tariffs and that’s “not the right way to get along with China.”
In addition to threatening 100% tariffs to take effect on Nov. 1, on top of existing tariffs that are as high as 30% in some cases, Trump also threatened to put export controls on critical software.
“He had a bad day, and I think we’re going to be fine with China,” Trump said. ” Look, I have a great relationship with President Xi. He’s a very tough man, he’s a very smart man. He’s a great leader for their country. He’s a great leader, and I have a great relationship with him. I think we’ll get it set. I know what happened. I really understand what happened, and I’m not even saying he’s wrong, but then we met him with something much tougher than what he did to us again, because of the tariffs, it’s much tougher.”
All this comes as Trump’s tariffs on imported furniture, kitchen cabinets and lumber took effect just after midnight, with duties ranging from 10% to 50% on foreign wood products and furniture.
Trump has also argued that his tariffs have been key to bringing about ceasefire deals like the one in Gaza, which Bessent suggested was behind the timing of China’s announcement of export controls.
“The Chinese economy is doing very poorly, and maybe they’re trying to take focus off of that to China, as opposed to the United States. The United States is pushing for peace in the world, China is financing war. And three, maybe it was a mistaken attempt to try to gain leverage before the two leaders meet in Korea in October. And I can tell you, trying to get leverage in front of a meeting with Donald Trump is a bad idea,” Bessent said.
He is now saying that Trump won’t implement the new 100% tariff until after the two leaders meet.