Can Scott Bessent see China’s trade counterstrike with clear eyes?

After a video call last Saturday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng are expected to meet in Malaysia this week to hopefully ease tensions before US President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping potentially meet on the sidelines of this year’s Apec summit. The meeting was in doubt when Trump threatened to impose an additional 100 per cent tariff on China, despite later relenting that it might not be sustainable.

Washington blamed Beijing for the escalation, attributing China’s behaviour to its own economic problems. China in turn held the US responsible for the escalation, citing how the US Commerce Department tightened restrictions on affiliated subsidiaries of Chinese companies on the entity list on September 29.

Bessent called China’s coming export controls on rare earths, announced on October 9, a “substantial unprovoked escalation”. The treasury secretary might be one of the smartest people in the Trump administration, but he missed the big picture. China’s latest controls are a response to 10 years of policy, not 10 days of provocations.