President Donald Trump said Tuesday he’s considering blocking imports of cooking oil from China in response to the country cutting off all purchases of U.S. soybeans.
“I believe that China purposefully not buying our Soybeans, and causing difficulty for our Soybean Farmers, is an Economically Hostile Act,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday. “We are considering terminating business with China having to do with Cooking Oil, and other elements of Trade, as retribution. As an example, we can easily produce Cooking Oil ourselves, we don’t need to purchase it from China.”
The post signals Trump’s latest attempt to try and reclaim leverage over his Chinese counterparts ahead of a Nov. 10 negotiating deadline between the two countries. He and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders summit in South Korea later this month.
Trump on Friday also threatened placing a 100 percent tariff on all Chinese goods beginning Nov. 1, following China’s decision to restrict rare earth exports.
