“It has just been learned that China has taken an extraordinarily aggressive position on Trade in sending an extremely hostile letter to the World, stating that they were going to, effective November 1, 2025, impose large scale Export Controls on virtually every product they make, and some not even made by them,” Trump said in a social media post.

The gambit will revive fears of a global disruption in trade that could see the world’s two largest economies effectively cut off ties, and dramatically raises the stakes for Trump and Xi as they navigate high-stake trade negotiations.

Today’s News in 90 Seconds, Saturday October 11

But Trump acknowledged Friday that he could retreat from his massive tariff escalation if the Chinese backed down from threatened restrictions on rare earths, while saying that it was still possible that he could meet Xi later this month.

“That’s why I made it Nov 1,” Trump said. “We’ll see what happens.”

Trump’s announced tariffs would raise import taxes on many Chinese goods to 130pc starting next month. That would be just below the 145pc level imposed earlier this year, before both countries ratcheted down the levies in a truce to advance trade talks.

Markets recoiled after Trump teased at the move earlier Friday in a social media post, with US stocks suffering their worst selloff in six months. The S&P 500 Index wiped out its weekly advance after tumbling 2.7pc, its worst day since April 10. The Nasdaq 100 Index sank 3.5pc. Chicago soybean futures fell as much as 1.9pc.

Ahead of the planned Xi-Trump summit, both the US and China moved to potentially curb flows of technology and materials between the countries. In the most recent action, China slapped new port fees on US ships and started an antitrust investigation into Qualcomm Inc following fresh efforts to restrict the flow of rare-earth minerals needed to make numerous consumer products, including motors, semiconductors and fighter jets.

The escalating threats could simply be a way for Beijing and Washington to gain an edge in the talks. Some of the latest measures announced by Beijing were set to be enforced by November 8, so would also not be in effect before the expected Xi-Trump talks.

But companies must now navigate the rapidly changing trade environment and the threat from Trump of even more escalation.

“This back and forth indicates the fragility of the bilateral relationship,” said Wendy Cutler, a former US trade negotiator. “It is by no means certain that cooler heads will prevail leading to a de-escalation in time” for the leaders’ planned meeting.

In the Oval Office, Trump teased that he could add export restrictions on airplanes and airplane parts. And the Office of the US Trade Representative on Friday announced it would impose tariffs of 100pc on certain ship-to-shore cranes and cargo handling equipment, a move that targets Chinese-made port equipment.

That follows a plan from earlier this year by the trade representative to impose fees on Chinese-built vessels. The USTR also said it is proposing that certain cargo handling equipment imported from China be subject to “additional tariffs of up to 150 percent.”

The announcements Friday put in doubt not only the agenda for Trump’s planned trip to Asia but also the future of negotiations over China’s refusal to purchase US soybeans, which has hammered American farmers. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview with Fox News on Friday that his office was searching for ways to “find a way through this” for US growers.

“For example, Vietnam has already lowered its tariffs on soybeans. Cambodia has lowered its tariffs on soybeans. We’re in talks with several other Asian nations to do that,” Greer said. “We’re also talking within the White House about domestic uses for soybeans.’

Rare earth materials have been at the centre of trade brinkmanship between Washington and Beijing. After Trump hiked tariffs on Chinese imports earlier this year, China’s government responded by cutting off mineral exports to US companies. Officials from both sides agreed to a truce in the spring, under which Trump lowered duties and Xi’s officials agreed to resume the flow of the minerals.

But on Thursday, China required that overseas exporters of items that use even traces of certain rare earths to obtain an export license, according to the Ministry of Commerce, citing national-security concerns. Some equipment and technology for processing rare earths and making magnets will also be subject to controls, the ministry said in a separate release.

It’s not clear what software products from the US might be hit by Trump’s proposed export ban.

Trump’s moves mark an abrupt change in tone even from Thursday, when he expressed optimism that he could convince Xi to end China’s moratorium on US soybean buys and said of the Chinese leader, “he’s got things that he wants to discuss with me, and I have things that I want to discuss with him.”

Tensions have fluctuated for months between the US and China as the two sides have jockeyed for leverage across a range of issues up for negotiation, including tariffs, countering fentanyl flows, soybeans, export controls, and the fate of Chinese-owned social media giant TikTok’s US operations. The latest trade truce between the economies suspended elevated US duties on China until November.

“Our relationship with China over the past six months has been a very good one, thereby making this move on Trade an even more surprising one,” Trump said in his initial Truth Social post. “I have always felt that they’ve been lying in wait, and now, as usual, I have been proven right!”

Trump claimed that he’d heard from other global trading partners who he said had received similar letters and were “extremely angry at this great Trade hostility” from China.

The president also expressed annoyance at the timing of the Chinese letters, coming as he’s planning to visit the Middle East to herald a peace deal he helped broker between Israel and Hamas.

“The Chinese letters were especially inappropriate in that this was the Day that, after three thousand years of bedlam and fighting, there is PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST,” Trump wrote.