According to a report by the US media "Fox Business News Network" on October 23rd, US Treasury Secretary Bescent revealed that he and US Trade Representative Greer would go to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to meet with Chinese officials in order to seek to ease the escalation of China's rare earth export control.

According to Bessent, Greer has already departed to Kuala Lumpur and will leave later on, with talks expected to take place on Saturday or Sunday.

However, before the negotiations expected by the United States could even begin, they first hit the gun of China. On the same day, Reuters reported that several people familiar with the matter revealed that the Trump administration is considering a measure to restrict software-driven exports to China, covering products from laptops to jet engines, as a response to China's rare earth policy.

Bescent's understated response to this matter said, "I can confirm that everything is under consideration", which means that Reuters's report is not groundless, and the United States intends to use it as a bargaining chip in negotiations with China.

In addition, Greer, who first traveled to Kuala Lumpur, also threw out a bargaining chip, saying that "Washington is considering re-examining its trade relationship with Beijing, which has been beneficial to China for the past two decades. Now the United States" can no longer tolerate this kind of inequality."

To summarize, the U.S. came up with two codes for the talks, one is intending to restrict software-driven products exports to China, and the other is to rethink China-U.S. "inequal" trade relations.

It can be said that the United States has put all the codes of this round of negotiations on the table, it seems determined to force China to adjust the new rules on rare earth export controls, but it is very certain that China will not eat this set, because we have already said in advance.

China has stressed more than once that "while the United States wants to talk, it threatens and intimidates, imposes high tariffs and introduces new restrictive measures. This is not the right way to deal with each other." Therefore, I said that the United States has hit China's gun, threatening to exert pressure and calling for negotiations at the same time. This attitude cannot create a favorable foundation and conditions for China and the United States to solve problems.

Of course, strictly speaking, these two cards played by the United States are not any bargaining chips. Instead, they are a clumsy tactic of "killing 800 enemies and damaging 10,000 ourselves." We don't need to be anxious or nervous about this.

The United States intends to restrict the export of software-driven products to China, seems to be a strong trick, the reality of the impact on China is not great, to understand the restriction is equivalent to supporting piracy, will soon damage the interests of foreign enterprises that have patented.

On the other hand, this will give rise to the rapid development of domestic software, do not forget that China's most indispensable is the "coal farm", soon will launch the replacement of domestic software, and radically say, maybe the Chinese side had long anticipated that the United States would use this trick, maybe the relevant software has long completed the development and construction, like Trump approved NVIDIA to resume the supply of H20 chips to China, China has already had alternative products.

As for Greer's threat to reconsider Sino-US trade relations, it is not so much a bargaining chip as an inability and rage that has run out of tricks. If the Trump administration has the courage, it can do it if it has the courage. The result is that China and the United States are completely decoupled and all trade exchanges between the two sides are terminated? To be honest, there is nothing to be afraid of at all.

At present, the United States is under the pressure of debt crisis and high inflation. Losing Chinese goods means that the American economy is bound to collapse. If Trump thinks that he can change out the goods needed by the American market empty-handed, it is indeed a feasible solution to terminate Sino-US trade.

It can be seen from this that the United States has almost no cards to play on Sino-US trade issues. The few cards it can play are basically plain and non-threatening. There is even a way to ask China if it is afraid of it, which is ridiculous and sad.