On October 10, U.S. Eastern Time, the United States announced that it would impose a 100% tariff on China in response to China's export controls on rare earths and other related items, and implement export controls on all key software.
That night, U.S. stocks fell sharply, with the Dow Jones Index falling about 878 points and the Nasdaq Composite Index falling 3.6%. The market is pessimistic. According to statistics, there were three kills in U.S. stocks, bonds and foreign exchanges that night, and European stocks and Chinese concept stocks were hit hard. The Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index fell by 6.1%.
On October 12, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce of China told reporters about the above tariff increases, saying that the relevant statements of the United States are typical "double standards."For a long time, the United States has widespread national security, abused export controls, adopted discriminatory practices against China, and unilateral long-arm jurisdiction measures have been implemented on many products such as semiconductor equipment, chips.In particular, since the September China-Madrid economic and trade talks, for just over 20 days, the United States has continued to introduce a series of new restrictions on China.
Continuous "small actions" for more than 20 days
US multilateral pressure
The Madrid economic and trade negotiations from September 14 to 15 and the subsequent phone call between the heads of state of China and the United States on September 19 injected expectations of stability into bilateral relations. However, since the Madrid negotiations in mid-September, several US government departments have launched a series of restrictive policies against China.
The first is the overweight in the field of technology export control. The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce updated the "Entity List" three times in a row on September 12, 16 and October 8, including dozens of Chinese entities, mainly involving drones, intelligent technology and dual-use fields.
Further impact comes from the "50% Controlling Rule" that came into effect on September 29. The rule penetrates the scope of control from companies that are "named" to subsidiaries that directly or indirectly hold more than 50% of their shares, greatly broadening the coverage of technical blockade. At the same time, BIS also requires exporters to conduct equity penetration surveys on counterparties, which increases the compliance costs and operating difficulties of companies.
Since then, U.S. pressure spread to many fields such as shipping, energy and aviation.
On October 9, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on several independent Chinese refineries and related oil terminals, including the Shandong Qingxian Petroleum Group, on the grounds of alleged purchases of Iranian oil. The same day, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) also proposed to ban Chinese airlines from flying over Russian airspace while flying on Sino-U.S. routes, claiming that China Airways has gained an “unfair advantage.”
China responded
Countermeasures are reasonable, beneficial and restrained
On April 17th, the Office of the United States Trade Representative announced the final measures of the 301 investigation into China's maritime, logistics and shipbuilding fields, and will levy port fees on relevant Chinese ships from October 14th. On October 10, China's Ministry of Transport issued an announcement on charging special port fees for American ships. The announcement stated that in accordance with the "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on International Maritime Transport" and other laws and regulations and the basic principles of international law, with the approval of the State Council, starting from October 14, 2025, ships with ship ownership rights to American enterprises, other organizations and individuals; Vessels operated by businesses, other organizations and individuals in the United States; Ships owned or operated by enterprises, other organizations and individuals in the United States directly or indirectly hold 25% or more of the equity (voting rights, board seats); Vessels flying the United States flag; For ships built in the United States, the maritime administration agency at the port where the ship is called is responsible for collecting the special port fee for ships.
A spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce said in a response on the 12th that China has been consulting and communicating with the US on the above measures, but the US has a negative attitude and insists on implementing the above measures. In order to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests, China has to take countermeasures.
On October 9, the Ministry of Commerce and Customs General Administration of China issued an announcement announcing that export controls will be implemented on lithium batteries and artificial graphic negative material related items from November 8, 2025. According to Bloomberg's latest data, in the first seven months of this year, China's lithium-ion batteries accounted for approximately 65% of U.S. imports.
After the Chinese measures were introduced, the share price of U.S. battery company Fluence Energy fell more than 12% on the 10th, the biggest one-day drop since August 12, and Tesla's share price also fell 5%. Both companies rely in part on China battery modules.
In addition to the release of the announcement of the implementation of export control of lithium batteries and artificial graphite negative materials related objects, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs on the 9th also issued three consecutive announcements, announcing the implementation of export control of ultra-hard materials related objects, some rare earth equipment and raw materials related objects, and some medium-sized rare earth related objects.
When answering reporters 'questions on the above-mentioned controls, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce emphasized that China has issued export control measures on rare earths and other related items, which is a legitimate practice for the China government to improve its own export control system in accordance with laws and regulations. China is a responsible major country and implements export controls on related items in accordance with the law. The purpose is to better maintain world peace and regional stability and fulfill international obligations such as non-proliferation. Before the measures were introduced, China had notified relevant countries and regions through the bilateral export control dialogue mechanism. Subsequently, the China government will conduct licensing reviews in accordance with laws and regulations, and license applications that meet the requirements. At the same time, it will actively consider applying various facilitation measures such as general licensing and license exemptions to effectively promote compliance trade. China's export control does not prohibit exports. As long as it is a compliant export application for civilian use, it can be approved, and relevant companies need not worry.
On October 10, the General Administration of China's National Market Supervision and Administration issued an announcement, because Qualcomm's acquisition of the Israeli car chip design company Autotalks did not declare the operator's concentration in accordance with the law, and suspected of violating the "Antimonopoly Law of the People's Republic of China", Qualcomm's company carried out a case investigation.
The analysis:
What is the extreme pressure of the Trump administration?
Against this background, Trump threw out a “100% tariff” extreme pressure on October 10.
In response, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce said that the threat of high tariffs is not the correct way to deal with the Chinese side for the tariff war, China's position is consistent, we are not willing to fight, but we are not afraid to fight."
China urges the United States to correct its wrong practices as soon as possible, take the important consensus reached by the two heads of state on the phone as a guide, safeguard the hard-won consultation results, continue to play the role of the Sino-US economic and trade consultation mechanism, resolve their respective concerns through dialogue on the basis of mutual respect and equal consultation, properly manage differences, and maintain the stable, healthy and sustainable development of Sino-US economic and trade relations. If the United States insists on going its own way, China will resolutely take corresponding measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.
Janet Zhu, an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in the United States, described the series of actions between China and the United States in the past 20 days as a "horizontal counterattack" confrontation. The analysis found that this series of actions took place before a critical time node-the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' meeting held in South Korea at the end of October.
CSIS expert Iralia Mazoko pointed out that compared to other countries, China appears to be distinct because of its “decision to counteract and show impressive power through rare-earth export controls.” The Trump administration at this time puts extreme pressure, more likely “to get more negotiating codes in front of (the leaders of both sides) meet.”
Analysts believe that the future trade friction between China and the United States has three development paths, including the optimistic scenario of negotiations, the neutral scenario of side talks, and the extreme situation of further escalation of the trade war.
Red Star reporter Deng Xiaobo Comprehensive Central TV News, China News Agency, etc.