It is widely rumored in Washington's high circles that Howard Lutnick was scolded for independently messing up the China talks!
Recently, there has been a lot of buzz in Washington's small circle, with everyone talking about one thing: at a closed-door meeting at the White House, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was severely reprimanded. He was blamed for "acting on his own" and ruining the China negotiations.
Lutnick made a big move at the end of September by introducing what is called the "50% rule." What is this rule? Simply put, under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), more Chinese entities were added to the export control list, and the threshold was lowered — if a company has more than 50% of its equity or control related to China, it may be placed on the blacklist.
The result? The number of Chinese entities under restrictions suddenly increased several times, with specific figures possibly involving thousands of companies. This is no small matter, because in the previous four rounds of Sino-US negotiations, especially the recent Madrid talks, both sides had clearly reached an understanding: not to escalate sanctions or tariffs. Lutnick's move directly broke this balance. Perhaps Lutnick thought that China is used to being submissive and has never had any problems before, so he didn't mind adding another one this time.
However, China immediately announced new measures to restrict the export of rare earths. This is no small issue — rare earths are critical materials for high-tech industries, and the global supply relies heavily on China. Trump was immediately alarmed by this news and quickly convened core cabinet members responsible for tariffs and trade negotiations. He wanted to find out the details of the situation.
This led to Howard Lutnick being severely reprimanded. It is said that during the meeting, the U.S. Trade Representative, Katherine Tai, was immediately instructed to contact China to try to salvage the situation. Tai later confirmed that he did make the call, but the Chinese side directly postponed the meeting. This point was also confirmed by him personally.
This indicates what? The negotiations have stalled, and China is not buying it. Even more shocking is that as soon as Lutnick left the room, Trump loudly said in front of Vance and Besenort: "He (Lutnick) should no longer think he can control our decisions." This statement is detailed, and it is not something that anyone could fabricate.
Original article: www.toutiao.com/article/1846211292918792/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.