The lack of self-awareness in the Trump White House is, at times, nothing short of jaw-dropping.
Just weeks before Donald Trump is expected to meet Xi Jinping on the fringes of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in South Korea in an effort to take some of the heat out of trade clashes between the two countries, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent has accused China of trying to hurt the world’s economy.
At issue are strict controls imposed by the Chinese government on the export of rare earth metals critical for the US defence, automotive, electronics, renewable energy and healthcare sectors. China is by far the dominant player in the mining of rare earth metals.
Bessent, a Yale graduate and former hedge fund manager, is far from a stupid man but, as he accused China of “wanting to slow down the global economy” and “to pull everyone else down with them”, did the recent actions of his own administration – actions he has supported – not give him pause for reflection.
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It was Trump and his team who tore up long-standing rules and conventions on trade, imposing a series of tariffs that, even now, can change from day to day at the whim of the US president.
In the first of two reports on Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund said that the full impact of those tariffs and their disruption of global supply chains has yet to be felt, adding that the outlook for economic growth remains “dim”.
The second report cautioned that international markets are “downplaying” the potential effects of US tariffs on growth and inflation”.
These US tariffs – universally seen as negative for both the US and the wider global economy – were the catalyst for the latest outbreak of hostilities between the US and China. The control on rare earths exports was just China’s retaliation.
“Maybe there is some Leninist business model where hurting your customers is a good idea,” Bessent said in his outburst on Tuesday. If there is, it must be borrowed from the counterintuitive libertarian Maga model of capitalism now prevailing in Washington, DC.
Bessent’s middle name is Homer. But for the fact that he was born well before it hit the screen, there are times you’d swear he was named after the head of the dysfunctional Simpsons.
