Beijing blames US for raising trade tensions, defends rare earth curbs

BEIJING (Reuters) -China called President Donald Trump's latest U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods hypocritical on Sunday and defended its curbs on exports of rare earths, but stopped short of imposing new levies on U.S. products. The commerce ministry said in a statement its export controls on rare-earth elements – which Trump on Friday called "surprising" and "very hostile" – followed a series of U.S. measures since bilateral trade talks in Madrid last month. Beijing cited the addition of Chinese companies to a U.S. trade blacklist and Washington's imposition of port fees on Chinese vessels as examples. "These actions have severely harmed China's interests and undermined the atmosphere for bilateral economic and trade talks. China firmly opposes them," the ministry said. Beijing stopped short of explicitly connecting these U.S. actions to its curbs on exports of critical minerals, saying its curbs were motivated by concern about these metals' military applications at a time of "frequent military conflict". (Reporting by Eduardo Baptista in Beijing and Selena Li in Hong Kong; Editing by William Mallard)

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