US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

Gyeongju (South Korea): China’s decision to impose export controls on rare earths was a “mistake” and drew attention to Beijing’s ability to use them as a coercive tool, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview published Saturday. Beijing announced new controls in Oct on export of technologies related to rare earths. “China has alerted everyone to the danger. It’s one thing to put the gun on the table. It’s another to fire shots in the air,” Bessent told Financial Times.

The restrictions were a major sticking point in trade negotiations between Beijing and Washington, and China said it would halt them after presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met this week on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the South Korea this week. Rare earths are crucial for defence, automobile, consumer electronics and other industries.The controls had rattled markets and snarled supply chains in the strategic sector, a key source of international leverage for Beijing.US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said China would not be able to pull the same move again, saying: “We have offsetting measures. I think the Chinese leadership were slightly alarmed by the global backlash to their export controls.”Bessent, who is in South Korea for the APEC summit, discussed supply chains and semiconductors with him, Taiwan’s representative to the meet said. Lin Hsin-i, a former economy minister, said they had a 40minute meeting and talked about tech cooperation.