US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent slammed Beijing in an interview this week, accusing it of seeking to harm the global economy after China slapped sweeping new export controls in the strategic field of rare earths.”This is a sign of how weak their economy is, and they want to pull everybody else down with them,” Bessent told the Financial Times in an interview on Monday.His comments came days after Beijing imposed fresh controls on the export of rare earth technologies and items. China is the world’s leading producer of the minerals used to make magnets crucial to the auto, electronic and defense industries.Trade tensions between Washington and Beijing have reignited in US President Donald Trump’s second presidency, with tit-for-tat duties reaching triple-digit levels at one point.For now, both countries have de-escalated tensions but the truce remains shaky.The US Treasury chief claimed China’s new controls signaled problems in its own economy: “They are in the middle of a recession/depression, and they are trying to export their way out of it.”China has in recent years battled slowing economic growth and high youth unemployment, with growth hitting 5.2 percent in the second quarter.Beijing’s new measures sparked a fiery response from Trump, who on Friday said he would roll out an additional 100-percent tariff on the country’s goods from November 1.On Tuesday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC that timeline could be accelerated.”A lot depends on what the Chinese do,” Greer said in the interview, adding that Beijing had “chosen to make this major escalation.”Last week, Trump also threatened to scrap a planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit starting later this month.China over the weekend accused the United States of “double standards” after Trump’s threat of further tariffs. The US leader later insisted that he wanted to “help China, not hurt it.”On Tuesday, China said it was ready to “fight to the end” in a trade war with the United States, shortly before a new wave of US tariffs on wood products took effect.A senior US official told the FT that China International Trade Representative Li Chenggang had previewed many of China’s current lines of attack that recently played out.The official said Li was aggressive in stating that the United States would face “hellfire” if things did not go his way.

Chipmaker Nexperia said Tuesday the Chinese government had banned it from exporting goods from China, after Dutch authorities seized control of the Netherlands-based firm citing management concerns.Nexperia has found itself at the centre of a tug-of-war between China and the Netherlands over semiconductors, an increasing source of global geopolitical tension.In its first statement since the Dutch move took effect on September 30, Nexperia said it was “actively engaging” with authorities in Beijing to gain an exemption from China’s counter-measures.Late Sunday, the Dutch government said it had invoked a Cold War-era law to effectively take control of the company, citing concerns about mismanagement.Under the 1952 Goods Availability Law, the Dutch government can block key decisions about hiring staff or relocating company parts for one year.The Dutch government said its use was “highly exceptional” and was invoked to ensure Nexperia’s chips that are used in a wide variety of electronic equipment would remain available in an emergency.The firm said that China’s response came on October 4.”The Chinese Ministry of Commerce issued an export control notice prohibiting Nexperia China and its subcontractors from exporting specific finished components and sub-assemblies manufactured in China,” the firm said.Nexperia said the Companies Chamber of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal had ordered the suspension of Chief Executive Zhang Xuezheng after concluding there were “valid reasons to doubt sound management.”- ‘Recklessness’ -The court published its judgement later Tuesday, which detailed a series of alleged impropriety by an executive not named in the statement, but identified as the CEO.The chamber found this executive guilty of a conflict of interest via his controlling stake in a Shanghai-based firm WSS, which manufactures wafers, the key components in semiconductors.According to the court, the CEO forced Nexperia to order as much as $200 million of wafers from WSS in 2025, when it only needed around $70-80 million.”This would mean that the wafers to be supplied by WSS would not be processed but be held in stock until obsolete… so that Nexperia was effectively ordering scrap,” the court said.In addition, the CEO cut off key finance officials from banking authorisation, granting power of attorney to individuals with no financial experience.”For a company the size of Nexperia, such conduct borders on recklessness,” said the court.The CEO fired executives who protested against this move, while the Global Head of Finance resigned after 39 years at the firm or its predecessors.Finally, the court said the CEO refused to implement key management changes agreed with Dutch authorities to ease concerns about Nexperia’s Chinese links.The chamber therefore decided to suspend the CEO and transfer all shares, except one, to an independent court-appointed administrator.Also revealed in the court document was an ultimatum from the US administration that was drawing up its “entity list” of firms viewed as acting contrary to Washington’s national security.The court cited minutes of meetings between Dutch officials and the US Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation.The key point that was “problematic” for the American officials was “the fact that the company’s CEO is still the same Chinese owner.””It is almost certain that the CEO will have to be replaced to qualify for an exemption from the entity list,” the court cited the minutes as saying.Based in the Dutch city of Nijmegen, Nexperia says its chips power “virtually every electronic design worldwide.”Once part of Dutch electronics giant Philips, it was acquired in 2018 by Wingtech.