“It is impossible to believe that China would have taken such an action, but they have, and the rest is History,” Trump wrote.
After months of trade talks with China, U.S. officials were cautiously optimistic the two sides had made progress. But China’s announcement about the new controls Thursday elicited shock and anger within the White House.
Some members of the administration want to effectively restart trade talks from zero with Beijing, according to people familiar with the thinking, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who have led the talks, are particularly incensed.
China’s decision to strengthen its export controls was part of a calculated action to demonstrate Beijing’s leverage over the U.S. economy and force Trump to the negotiating table with a weaker hand. Beijing officials see Trump as eager to make a deal, but the Chinese have so far been unable to get the U.S. to agree to the full removal of tariffs and export controls.
Though Beijing views its actions as a justified response, the retaliation may have backfired.
“I don’t think they anticipated that the summit would be in jeopardy,” said Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, a Washington think tank.
Cancellation of the meeting would represent a blow to Xi, who wants continued engagement with Trump to manage the relationship. Trump in recent months has also expressed an interest in meeting his Chinese counterpart in-person, at least in part to get Beijing to agree to large-scale purchases of U.S. soybeans.
