Trump threatens tech export limits, new 100% tariff on Chinese imports starting Nov 1 or sooner
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to place an additional 100 per cent tax on Chinese imports starting on November 1 or sooner, potentially escalating tariff rates close to levels that in April fanned fears of a global recession.
The president expressed frustration with new export controls placed on rare earth elements by China — and said on social media that “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea.
Trump later told reporters he had not cancelled his meeting. “But I don't know that we're going to have it,” he said during an Oval Office appearance on another subject. “I'm going to be there regardless, so I would assume we might have it.”
Trump also suggested there may be time to ratchet down his steep new tariff threat. “We're going to have to see what happens. That's why I made it Nov. 1,” he said.
China's new restrictions
On Thursday, the Chinese government restricted access to rare earth minerals, requiring foreign companies to get special approval for shipping the metallic elements abroad. It also announced permitting requirements on exports of technologies used in the mining, smelting and recycling of rare earths, adding that any export requests for products used in military goods would be rejected.
On social media, Trump described the export controls as “shocking” and “out of the blue.” He said China is “becoming very hostile” and that it's holding the world “captive” by restricting access to the metals and magnets used in electronics, computer chips, lasers, jet engines and other technologies.
Trump said in a post that “starting November 1st, 2025 (or sooner, depending on any further actions or changes taken by China), the United States of America will impose a Tariff of 100% on China, over and above any Tariff that they are currently paying.” The president also said the US government would respond to China by putting its own export controls “on any and all critical software” from American firms.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment.
Trump is known for using threats as a tactic
The S&P 500 tumbled 2.7 per cent on worries about the rising tensions between the world's largest economies. It was the market's worst day since April when the president last bandied about import taxes this high. Still, the stock market closed before the president spelt out the terms of his threat.
Not only could the global trade war instigated by Trump be rekindled, but import taxes being heaped on top of the 30 per cent already being levied on Chinese goods could, by the administration's past statements, cause trade to break down between the US and China in ways that could cause growth worldwide to slump.
While Trump's wording was definitive, he is also famously known for backing down from threats. Earlier this year, some investors began engaging in what the Financial Times called the “TACO” trade, which stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out.”
The prospect of tariffs this large could compound the president's own political worries, potentially pushing up inflation at a moment when the job market appears fragile and the drags from a government shutdown are starting to compound with layoffs of federal workers.
The United States and China have been jostling for advantage in trade talks, after the import taxes announced earlier this year triggered the trade war. Both countries agreed to ratchet down tariffs after negotiations in Switzerland and the United Kingdom, yet tensions remain as China has continued to restrict America's access to the difficult-to-mine rare earths needed for a wide array of US technologies.
There is already a backlog of export license applications from Beijing's previous round of export controls on rare earth elements, and the latest announcements “add further complexity to the global supply chain of rare earth elements,” the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said in a statement.
There are other flashpoints in the trade relationship, including US restrictions on China's ability to import advanced computer chips, sales of American-grown soybeans and a series of tit-for-tat port fees being levied by both countries starting on Tuesday.
Analysts say there's time to de-escalate
Trump did not formally cancel the meeting with Xi, so much as indicating that it might not happen as part of a trip at the end of the month in Asia. The trip was scheduled to include a stop in Malaysia, which is hosting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit; a stop in Japan; and a visit to South Korea, where he was slated to meet with Xi ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, said Beijing's move was a reaction to US sanctions of Chinese companies this week and the upcoming port fees targeting China-related vessels — but said there's room for de-escalation to keep the leaders' meeting alive. “It is a disproportional reaction,” Sun said. “Beijing feels that de-escalation will have to be mutual as well. There is room for manoeuvre, especially on the implementation.”
Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, said China holds leverage because it dominates the market for rare earths with 70 per cent of the mining and 93 per cent of the production of permanent magnets made from them, which are crucial to high-tech products and the military.
“These restrictions undermine our ability to develop our industrial base at a time when we need to. And then second, it's a powerful negotiating tool,” she said.
Craig Singleton, senior director of the China program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank, said Trump's post could “mark the beginning of the end of the tariff truce” that had lowered the tax rates charged by both countries.
“Mutually assured disruption between the two sides is no longer a metaphor,” Singleton said. “Both sides are reaching for their economic weapons at the same time, and neither seems willing to back down.”
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Indigo fiasco: B'luru airport suffers disruptions; over 102 services cancelled, KIAL issues advisory
Bengaluru: IndiGo’s service disruption at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport continued for the fourth consecutive day, leading to the cancellation of over 102 flights on Friday. Many passengers were stranded for more than 12 hours.
According to reports, 52 arrivals and 50 departures were cancelled.
Passengers expressed widespread anger over IndiGo’s lack of proper communication and shared videos and updates on social media highlighting the chaotic situation.
Some users alleged that the airline intentionally cancelled flights to indirectly pressure the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) into rolling back the newly introduced ‘weekly rest’ clause under the Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms.
A user wrote, “An airline that had two years to meet global standards managed to blackmail the government and force a rollback. What about passenger safety and pilot health? The problem is we will keep flying IndiGo because there is no option.”
An airline company that had two years to meet global standards has managed to blackmail the government and forced it to toll back.
What about passenger safety? Pilot health? Problem is we will keep flying indigo because there is no option pic.twitter.com/cpbwf4SM5D
— Snehesh Alex Philip (@sneheshphilip) December 5, 2025
Another commented, “So the blackmail by @IndiGo6E worked. What about the problems faced by passengers? No accountability?”
So the blackmail by @IndiGo6E worked. What about the problems faced by the passengers. No accountability?? pic.twitter.com/9DNxmH8b0I
— CA Brindavan Giri (@BrindavanG) December 5, 2025
The widespread cancellation came owing to pilot and crew crunch after the DGCA introduced crew shortages triggered by the rollout of the new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms.
A social media user, Nitin Malpani shared a video about this and said, "What are you IndiGo staff doing? We have been at Bangalore airport since 8 pm last night till now. Are you playing with children, elderly and sick people just to change the work schedule of the staff?"
A video of exhausted passengers singing bhajans while waiting at the airport has also gone viral.
Meanwhile, at a time when Indigo cancelled flights to major cities, ticket prices of other airlines sharply surged.
As per reports, the New Delhi–Chennai one-way fare touched nearly ₹66,000, while fares on the Mumbai and Kolkata routes also crossed ₹38,000.
A passenger reported that an Air India ticket from Bengaluru to New Delhi for Saturday evening had risen to nearly ₹34,000, leaving many with no choice but to pay increased prices.
Bengaluru airport issues advisory
In a statement issued on Friday, Bengaluru airport authorities said that IndiGo flights to Mumbai and Delhi had been cancelled and advised passengers to check their flight status directly with the airline before arriving at the airport.
They added that their teams were working with IndiGo and other stakeholders to decrease inconvenience and assist passengers affected by the disruption.
ಇಂಡಿಗೋ ಮೂಲಕ ಕೆಂಪೇಗೌಡ ಅಂತಾರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯ ವಿಮಾನ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಿಂದ ಪ್ರಯಾಣಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವ ಪ್ರಯಾಣಿಕರು ದಯವಿಟ್ಟು ಈ ಸೂಚನೆಯನ್ನು ಪರಿಶೀಲಿಸಿ. ನಿಮ್ಮ ಸಹಕಾರಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳು.#ಪ್ರಯಾಣಸಲಹೆ #ಇಂಡಿಗೋ #ಕೆಂಪೇಗೌಡಅಂತಾರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯವಿಮಾನನಿಲ್ದಾಣಬೆಂಗಳೂರು #ಬೆಂಗಳೂರುವಿಮಾನನಿಲ್ದಾಣ #ವಿಮಾನ pic.twitter.com/SLV6Nl69B9
— ಕೆಂಪೇಗೌಡ ಅಂತಾರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯ ವಿಮಾನ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು (@blrairport_kn) December 5, 2025
Need a sanitary pad for my daughter !
A video of a distressed father pleading for a sanitary pad for his daughter amid the chaos has gone viral across social media platforms, sparking outrage on social media.
In the video, the man can be heard saying, “My daughter needs a pad. Blood is coming out.” He is also seen repeatedly requesting a female staffer for a sanitary pad, but she allegedly refuses.
The video has gone viral, with strong reactions from netizens.
"Need sanitary pad for my daughter," a visibly angry man could be heard venting at the Indigo crew amid hundreds of flight cancellations leaving passengers, in dire need of basic amenities, stranded for hours. pic.twitter.com/TRlMA27DVS
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) December 5, 2025
One user wrote, “What kind of airports do we have where even basic emergency services are unavailable?”
What kind of airports we have where we didn't even have basic emergency services.
— Himanshu (@himanshukr2841) December 5, 2025
Another commented, “Welcome to the world’s fourth-largest economy, where one airline brings the aviation ministry to its knees, and ministers get away with zero accountability.”
Welcome to the worlds fourth economy where one airlines brings the aviation ministry to it’s knees @PMOIndia And the ministers get away with zero accountability
— Pintoo Ganguly (@pintooganguly) December 5, 2025
What caused the IndiGo fiasco?
The disruption at India’s largest carrier, which has a control of over 60% of the domestic market comes after crew shortages, which were triggered by the rollout of DGCA’s new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms.
According to a NDTV report, the airline has said that it expects to completely restore its normal services within three to four days.
However, following chaos at major airports, DGCA rolled back the newly implemented FDTL norms on Friday.
