Evening Brief: Trump Plans to Impose 100% Tariffs on China, Deadly South Carolina Bar Shooting, Gaza Summit Tomorrow

100 Percent Tariff Threat Meets Beijing’s Rare Earth Squeeze

If you thought the United States and China had found a lower boiling point, think again. On October 10, President Donald Trump said he will slap an additional 100 percent tariff on imports from China as soon as November 1, stacked on top of the existing 30 percent levy. The timing is no accident. Beijing just tightened the tap on rare earth minerals, forcing companies to secure special government approval before exporting products that contain even trace amounts sourced from China, no matter where those products are made.

Rare earths are the quiet muscle inside modern power. They sit inside semiconductors, electric vehicle batteries, jet engines, and the kind of defense equipment you only notice when it fails.

China controls about 70 percent of global mining and roughly 90 percent of processing.

That kind of market share is leverage. Washington sees a choke point. Beijing sees a tool.

Trump labeled the new Chinese rules “extraordinarily aggressive” and a “moral disgrace,” and he threatened export controls on any and all critical software on a similar timeline. The administration has not provided details, which is exactly what spooks boardrooms. The signal is escalation without a clear ladder.

Diplomacy is catching shrapnel. The meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, scheduled for later in October at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, now appears uncertain. Trump first floated a cancellation, then said he would attend. Beijing responded by rejecting the tariff threat outright, urging dialogue while warning of appropriate countermeasures if Washington goes unilateral.

Markets heard the message. The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index fell as traders priced in renewed trade hostilities and supply risk. Firms that live and die on rare earth inputs flagged higher costs and potential disruptions. Boards can hedge currency. They cannot hedge a permit in Beijing.

This is not a narrow tussle about import lines. It is a contest over who controls the valves of the twenty-first-century industry. The United States wants to blunt China’s ability to weaponize minerals. China wants to remind the world that processing capacity beats speeches. Between them sit supply chains that feed everything from smartphones to stealth aircraft.