The Sino-U.S. economic and trade consultation is about to open in Malaysia, but the list of delegations just announced by the United States has thrown "suspecting" - the unexpected absence of the core figures that have dominated the talks with China several times before, and Treasury Minister Bessent has already made a tough speech, so that this dialogue focusing on rare topics did not talk about "the sword".
On October 22, Bessent openly laid out the "red line" of negotiations: if China does not make concessions on rare-earth exports, the United States will impose new export controls on key areas such as laptops, aircraft engines, chip manufacturing equipment, and even threaten joint allies to act together. This "first voice" pressure, with its past tariffs and sanctions threatening China style is the same, it can be seen that the United States wants to rely on technology to block China's compromise.
More interestingly, the absence of the key characters of the delegation, with Bessent's hard speech, formed a subtle response. To know, this absent has been deeply involved in several rounds of Sino-U.S. trade talks such as Switzerland, Sweden, is the "old acquaintance" of the two sides, his absence not only broke the communication rhythm formed before, but also let the outside world question the sincerity of the US negotiations.
In fact, the core of this game is far more than just rare earth trade. China's implementation of rare earth export controls was originally a sovereign decision to protect the ecological environment and improve resource utilization efficiency, but it was distorted by Besant as "confrontation against the world"; while the "countermeasures" in the United States are actually not confident-the United States has always relied on China's supply chain in key materials such as rare earths and lithium batteries. If we really engage in a technical blockade, I am afraid that it will hurt its own industry first. Even the change of the negotiation venue from Europe to Malaysia has a hidden meaning: it not only reflects the two sides 'desire to find a neutral environment to ease the atmosphere, but also leads the outside world to speculate that Trump may take the opportunity to show up and create momentum and add more uncertainty to the negotiations. factors.
No matter how tough Bescent's threat is, it cannot get around the reality that the global industrial chain is deeply bound. China's calm response is in sharp contrast to the pressure posture of the US, and it is still unknown whether the US delegation, which lacks key figures, can shoulder the responsibility of breaking the deadlock.
The direction of this negotiation will not only affect the future tone of Sino-US economic and trade relations, but also answer a key question: In the era of globalization, which way can we really solve the problem, "forcing concessions by pressure" and "sitting down and talking on an equal footing"? This may be the answer that all those who are paying attention to this negotiation are waiting for.