US president Donald Trump announced a new 100% tariff on Chinese goods late last week, "over and above any tariff they are currently paying", alongside new export controls on "any and all critical software". The new restrictions come in the wake of rare earth export controls announced by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce earlier in the week, requiring foreign companies to obtain special government approval before exporting products containing the precious materials, or the rare earths themselves.
Trump made the announcement on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Friday. "It has just been learned that China has taken an extraordinarily aggressive position on trade in sending an extremely hostile letter to the world", the US president said. "This affects all countries, without exception, and was obviously a plan devised by them years ago. It is absolutely unheard of in international trade, and a moral disgrace in dealing with other nations"
