US Expects ‘Substantial Support’ From India To Counter China: Bessent

WASHINGTON, DC – US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on October 14 that Washington expects support from its allies and friends, including India, over its attempt to counter China’s latest export controls on rare earths.

In an interview with Fox News, Bessent characterized the Chinese export controls as “China versus the world” and expressed confidence that US partners would extend their backing behind Washington’s efforts.

“We have already been in touch with the allies. We will be meeting with them this week, and I expect that we will get substantial global support from the Europeans, from the Indians, from the democracies in Asia…This is a global problem, and I think our global allies will follow us on this,” he added.

Bessent asserted that the US won’t “let these export restrictions and monitoring go on” and that “everything is on the table” to retaliate against Chinese measures.

“Back in early summer, we were forced to put 12 countermeasures on China that were highly affected by natural resources that are used in the making of plastics for jet engines and parts. I believe that they had to ground a large part of their civilian fleet. So, we have plenty of straight brute force countermeasures that we can pull,” he said.

Last week, Beijing tightened its export control measures on rare-earth elements and imposed a fee on US ships as Washington expanded its own rules governing exports.

Both sides have been engaged in trade negotiations since April, with a temporary truce expiring on November 10. (IANS)