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Trump’s newest ultimatum to enforce an additional complete levy on Chinese goods has been labeled a “classic case” of American hypocrisy, as stated by the China’s leadership.

A representative of the ministry additionally remarked that China could enact its own unspecified “responsive actions” if the US President executes his threat, noting that the country was “fearless” of a potential commercial battle.

This past Friday, Trump responded at Beijing’s move to reinforce its policies for foreign shipments of rare earths, alleging the Chinese leadership of “becoming very hostile” and attempting to hold the international market “hostage”.

He also vowed to withdraw from a planned summit with Beijing’s head of state Xi, which was expected to take place during a meeting in South Korea later this month.

His statements on that day shook global markets, with the benchmark US stock index closing down 2.7%, marking its largest decline since April.

The president’s words revived concerns of a trade war between the two economic giants.

In May, the both nations had reached an agreement to eliminate triple-digit tariffs on each other’s imports, which had raised the prospect of bilateral trade stopping between the economic powers.

This left, United States levies on Chinese imports facing an additional thirty percent tariff compared with the beginning of 2025, while US goods entering the country incur a 10% tariff.

The most recent comments from China – published by the Commerce Ministry in the manner of official answers to journalist’s questions – echoed terminology from the zenith of the latest commercial tensions.

They criticised American limits on exports on chips and semi-conductors while defending China’s own restrictions on exports on rare earth minerals as “standard procedures” to safeguard domestic safety and that of all nations.

Their representative said that for “a long time”, the United States had “overstretched the concept of state security, abused foreign shipment regulations and “enforced” discriminatory practices against the Chinese nation.

“Resorting to tariff threats is not the proper method to deal with Beijing,” the spokesperson commented.

“China’s position on a trade conflict has consistently been consistent: we wish to avoid one, but we are unafraid of one.”

The previous week, the Chinese government revealed it was strengthening export controls on rare earth minerals and other materials essential to advanced tech manufacturing.

This was seen as a key move, as the country processes about the vast majority of the world’s rare earths, which are used in products such as photovoltaic modules and mobile phones.

New remarks from the US and China are being seen by some as a strategy of enhancing bargaining power in preparation for forthcoming discussions.

Is not yet known whether a summit between Trump and President Xi, scheduled at a conference in Seoul before month’s end, will go ahead.