China Escalates Trade Tiff with Tough Retort to Trump Accusation
By Reuters | 02 Jun, 2025

Trump's accusation that China is violating the Geneva tariff deal by dragging feet on rare-earth exports prompts accusations and threats from China's Trade Minister.

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent speaks with with Liao Min, Deputy Minister of Finance of China, during a bilateral meeting between the U.S. and China, in Geneva, Switzerland, May 11, 2025. KEYSTONE/EDA/Martial Trezzini/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

China said on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump's accusations that Beijing had violated the consensus reached in Geneva trade talks were "groundless", and promised to take forceful measures to safeguard its interests. 

The comment by the commerce ministry was in response to Trump's remarks on Friday that China had breached a bilateral deal to roll back tariffs. 

The ministry said China had implemented and actively upheld the agreement reached last month in Geneva, while the U.S. had introduced multiple "discriminatory restrictive" measures against China. 

Those measures included issuing guidance on AI chip export controls, halting sales of chip design software to China and revoking visas for Chinese students, the ministry added.

"The U.S. government has unilaterally and repeatedly provoked new economic and trade frictions, exacerbating uncertainty and instability in bilateral economic and trade relations," the ministry said in a statement.

It did not elaborate on what forceful measures it might take in response. 

Beijing and Washington agreed in mid-May in Geneva to pause triple-digit tariffs for 90 days. In addition, China also promised to lift trade countermeasures that restricted its exports of the critical metals needed for U.S. semiconductor, electronics and defence production. 

Trump on Friday also announced a doubling of import tariffs on steel and aluminium to 50%.

While China is the world's largest steel producer and exporter, it ships very little to the United States after a 25% tariff imposed in 2018 shut most Chinese steel out of the market. China ranks third among aluminium suppliers.

(Reporting by Shuyan Wang and Chen Aizhu; Editing by Tom Hogue and Kate Mayberry)