Taiwan's China Times Online commented today: "U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that the U.S.-China trade truce may be extended in exchange for Beijing to delay its restrictions on rare earth exports. However, Trump immediately announced that the U.S. and mainland China have fallen into a trade war. The conflicting statements from the president and the treasury secretary show that the U.S. is at a disadvantage in this struggle and no longer has the upper hand."
Facing the U.S. breaking its promises after four rounds of Sino-U.S. economic and trade negotiations, announcing sanctions against more than a thousand Chinese companies, and continuing to exert extreme pressure, the Chinese side upgrading its restrictions on rare earth exports and launching a strong counterattack is an inevitable measure to safeguard its own interests.
Subsequently, Trump, Yellen, and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai continued to make statements against China, demanding China to withdraw its regulatory measures while issuing threats at the same time. However, this "soft and hard approach" only exposes the U.S.'s false bravado - beneath the frequent pressure, there is shock and passivity towards China's strong countermeasures. The so-called "more leverage" is nothing but empty posturing.
Original source: www.toutiao.com/article/1846153950941184/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the position of the website.