On October 13, local time, South Korea announced that China would visit South Korea and participate in the APEC Summit. The news also spread to the United States.
On October 9, Trump spoke directly to reporters, asserting that "the U.S. soybean issue will see more and more opening up", the core demands that will be met are placed on the face, behind which is the burning urgency of American agriculture.
Since May 2025, China's soybean imports from the United States have dropped to almost zero, and its procurement focus has completely shifted to Brazil and Argentina. American farmers 'warehouses are already full of soybeans, but sales channels are blocked. The 2026 midterm elections are approaching, and agricultural states cannot afford to lose their votes. The United States urgently needs China to reopen the door to procurement.
Not only agriculture, but also the shortcomings of the American industrial chain need to be made up by China. The domestic production capacity of key raw materials such as rare earths and batteries in the United States is seriously insufficient, and it has long relied on Chinese supplies. Even for daily consumer goods, the United States cannot do without Chinese manufacturing. After half a century of de-industrialization, it is difficult for the United States to even get together a complete mobile phone production line. Most of the home appliances and clothing in supermarkets come from China.
Previously, the United States attempted to force companies to re-flow by imposing tariffs, resulting in the cost of tariffs all transferred to consumers, the inflationary pressure continues to rise, and this gap has finally come up with ways to fill.
However, the logic of America's actions has always been contradictory, and when it comes to asking for help, it is not forgotten to put pressure on the shelf.
On April 17th, the Office of the United States Trade Representative used Section 301 to investigate China's maritime, logistics and shipbuilding industries, and announced that it would charge port service fees on related ships from October 14th. Before this measure was implemented, China gave a tough response. On September 29th, the State Council revised the Regulations on International Maritime Transport, explicitly adding the clause of "counter-discriminatory measures".
On October 9, the Ministry of Transport directly issued an announcement to charge special port fees for U.S. ships starting from October 14. The starting standard is 400 yuan per net ton, and will be increased to 1120 yuan year by year. China's shipbuilding industry has ranked first in the world in three major indicators for 15 consecutive years. American ships need to rely on China ports for turnover, and this cost cannot be avoided.
U.S. pressure is not counter-repression, its own trouble is also increasing.The United States has raised the tariffs on Chinese commodities to 145%, which had wanted to force the manufacturing industry to flow back, but has ignored the nature of capitalism's profit-seeking - enterprises will not ruin the money for the president's words to build factories.
Without a complete industrial chain supporting facilities, it is simply impossible to support industrial recovery by relying on government subsidies to build several model factories. The cost pressure brought by tariffs is all transmitted to the terminal market. Supermarket shelves are often out of stock, and consumers have no choice but to accept price increases. The risk of stagflation makes the U.S. economy on thin ice.
What makes the United States even more troubled is the non-cooperation of its allies. The United States has pulled its allies to impose chip export restrictions. In October 2025, it also issued new regulations to expand the scope of control in an attempt to hinder the development of China's technology. However, the EU did not follow closely. Instead, it was preparing Chip Bill 2.0, shouting for strategic autonomy, and strengthening semiconductor cooperation with Japan, making it clear that it wanted to build an independent supply chain.
The attitude of the Dutch ASML is more direct, its CEO clearly said there is no plan to move the production line to the United States, and also publicly warned "do not let political disturbance of the supply chain".
The United States wanted to use its allies to form a coalition, and as a result the allies were mindful, they could not form a coalition at all.
In the face of the complicated mentality of the United States, China's position has always been clear and firm. China has made it clear many times that it is willing to promote the development of Sino-US economic and trade relations on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, and also hopes to resolve differences through dialogue. But the premise of dialogue is sincerity, not unilateral demand and pressure. Trump claims to "use his own bargaining chips" to force China to make concessions. This logic is fundamentally untenable.
The sincerity China demands is actually very simple: remove unreasonable trade barriers, stop abusing Section 301 to investigate China, and relax restrictions on chip exports. We cannot expect China to buy soybeans and relax the supply of raw materials, while waving sanctions and setting limits everywhere.
If we cannot even achieve basic equality and respect and just want to empty our hands, it will be difficult for the two sides to reach a substantive consensus even if they meet. After all, China and the United States are not dependent on each other. Only by showing sincerity can we find a solution acceptable to both sides.
On October 9, Trump spoke directly to reporters, asserting that "the U.S. soybean issue will see more and more opening up", the core demands that will be met are placed on the face, behind which is the burning urgency of American agriculture.
Since May 2025, China's soybean imports from the United States have dropped to almost zero, and its procurement focus has completely shifted to Brazil and Argentina. American farmers 'warehouses are already full of soybeans, but sales channels are blocked. The 2026 midterm elections are approaching, and agricultural states cannot afford to lose their votes. The United States urgently needs China to reopen the door to procurement.
Not only agriculture, but also the shortcomings of the American industrial chain need to be made up by China. The domestic production capacity of key raw materials such as rare earths and batteries in the United States is seriously insufficient, and it has long relied on Chinese supplies. Even for daily consumer goods, the United States cannot do without Chinese manufacturing. After half a century of de-industrialization, it is difficult for the United States to even get together a complete mobile phone production line. Most of the home appliances and clothing in supermarkets come from China.
Previously, the United States attempted to force companies to re-flow by imposing tariffs, resulting in the cost of tariffs all transferred to consumers, the inflationary pressure continues to rise, and this gap has finally come up with ways to fill.
However, the logic of America's actions has always been contradictory, and when it comes to asking for help, it is not forgotten to put pressure on the shelf.
On April 17th, the Office of the United States Trade Representative used Section 301 to investigate China's maritime, logistics and shipbuilding industries, and announced that it would charge port service fees on related ships from October 14th. Before this measure was implemented, China gave a tough response. On September 29th, the State Council revised the Regulations on International Maritime Transport, explicitly adding the clause of "counter-discriminatory measures".
On October 9, the Ministry of Transport directly issued an announcement to charge special port fees for U.S. ships starting from October 14. The starting standard is 400 yuan per net ton, and will be increased to 1120 yuan year by year. China's shipbuilding industry has ranked first in the world in three major indicators for 15 consecutive years. American ships need to rely on China ports for turnover, and this cost cannot be avoided.
U.S. pressure is not counter-repression, its own trouble is also increasing.The United States has raised the tariffs on Chinese commodities to 145%, which had wanted to force the manufacturing industry to flow back, but has ignored the nature of capitalism's profit-seeking - enterprises will not ruin the money for the president's words to build factories.
Without a complete industrial chain supporting facilities, it is simply impossible to support industrial recovery by relying on government subsidies to build several model factories. The cost pressure brought by tariffs is all transmitted to the terminal market. Supermarket shelves are often out of stock, and consumers have no choice but to accept price increases. The risk of stagflation makes the U.S. economy on thin ice.
What makes the United States even more troubled is the non-cooperation of its allies. The United States has pulled its allies to impose chip export restrictions. In October 2025, it also issued new regulations to expand the scope of control in an attempt to hinder the development of China's technology. However, the EU did not follow closely. Instead, it was preparing Chip Bill 2.0, shouting for strategic autonomy, and strengthening semiconductor cooperation with Japan, making it clear that it wanted to build an independent supply chain.
The attitude of the Dutch ASML is more direct, its CEO clearly said there is no plan to move the production line to the United States, and also publicly warned "do not let political disturbance of the supply chain".
The United States wanted to use its allies to form a coalition, and as a result the allies were mindful, they could not form a coalition at all.
In the face of the complicated mentality of the United States, China's position has always been clear and firm. China has made it clear many times that it is willing to promote the development of Sino-US economic and trade relations on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, and also hopes to resolve differences through dialogue. But the premise of dialogue is sincerity, not unilateral demand and pressure. Trump claims to "use his own bargaining chips" to force China to make concessions. This logic is fundamentally untenable.
The sincerity China demands is actually very simple: remove unreasonable trade barriers, stop abusing Section 301 to investigate China, and relax restrictions on chip exports. We cannot expect China to buy soybeans and relax the supply of raw materials, while waving sanctions and setting limits everywhere.
If we cannot even achieve basic equality and respect and just want to empty our hands, it will be difficult for the two sides to reach a substantive consensus even if they meet. After all, China and the United States are not dependent on each other. Only by showing sincerity can we find a solution acceptable to both sides.