Khaberni - On Sunday, China criticized the latest U.S. tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on Chinese goods, and defended the restrictions it imposed on its exports of rare earth metals, but stopped short of imposing new tariffs on American products.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce stated in a report that the export controls imposed on rare earth metals, which Trump described on Friday as "unexpected" and "very aggressive", came after a series of U.S. actions since the bilateral trade talks in Madrid last month.
Beijing referred to the listing of Chinese companies on an American trade blacklist and the imposition of port charges on Chinese ships by Washington as examples of this.
The ministry said, "These actions have severely harmed China's interests and undermined the atmosphere of the bilateral economic and trade talks. China strongly opposes these measures."
Beijing did not explicitly link these U.S. actions to the restrictions it imposes on exports of these vital metals, stating that the motivation behind these restrictions is the concern about the military applications of these metals in times of "repeated military conflict".
