U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised Salvo of Chinese students to "actively revoke" their visas, the latest move in tensions between the world's two largest economies.
Despite a temporary tariff truce reaching earlier this month, the division between Washington and Beijing remains widespread, with recent ruptures in higher education, artificial intelligence (AI) chips and rare earth minerals.
We know how China’s relationship with the United States has worsened despite diplomatic efforts.
The U.S.-China trade dispute escalated, with the U.S. cumulative tariffs on certain Chinese goods hit a staggering 245% after the Trump administration raised tariffs on Chinese goods to 145% earlier this year. China retaliated 125% against its tariffs on U.S. goods.
Tariffs on both sides fell by 115 percentage points in 90 days, according to the agreement reached on May 12, during which negotiators hope to obtain a long-term agreement. Currently, the U.S. tariffs on all Chinese goods are maintained by 30%, while Beijing imposes 10% on U.S. products.
However, in the weeks since the temporary probation, discussions in Washington and Beijing seem to be limited.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Thursday that trade talks between the United States and China were “a bit stagnant” and could need to be revived through calls between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration announced new strict visa control over Chinese university students and told U.S. companies to stop selling their advanced chip software for semiconductor designs to Chinese groups.
Rubio announced on Wednesday that the United States will "actively revoke" visas for Chinese students studying in the country. He also promised to continue to review new visa applicants in China and Hong Kong.
The Trump administration’s decision to make deportation and revoke student visas is part of a broad effort to achieve its tough immigration agenda.
China is the second largest country of origin for international students in the United States, second only to India. During the 2023-2024 academic year, about one-quarter of all foreign students in the United States, totaling more than 270,000.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry criticized the decision to revoke visas, saying it "damaged" the rights of Chinese students. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said: "Using ideological and state rights as excuses, the United States has unreasonably cancelled the visas for Chinese students."
The Trump administration also banned Harvard University from enrolling any foreign students on May 22, accusing it of "coordinating with the Communist Party of China." The move has since been blocked by a U.S. federal judge.
Still, the largest foreign student at Harvard (nearly 1,300) is Chinese, and many top officials, including current leader Xi Jinping, have sent their children to Ivy League schools.
On May 13, after the trade talks in Geneva ended, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued guidance warning U.S. companies not to use Huawei's Ascend AI AI semiconductor chips, noting that they "may be developed or produced in violation of U.S. export controls."
The move marks the latest move in a series of efforts by the Trump administration to stop China's ability to develop cutting-edge AI chips. Small semiconductors that power AI systems have long been the source of tension between the United States and China.
A spokesman for China's Commerce Ministry last week opposed the guidance, accusing Washington of "destroying" the consensus reached in Geneva and described the measures as "typical unilateral bullying and protectionism."
Then, on May 28, the U.S. government stepped up its action by ordering U.S. companies that used software to design semiconductors to stop selling their goods and services to the Chinese group.
Design automation software manufacturers, including Cadence, Synopsys and Siemens Eda, were told through letters from the U.S. Department of Commerce to stop providing technology to China.
For more than a decade, the United States has tightened its export controls on semiconductors, believing that China has used U.S. computer chips to improve military hardware and software.
Chinese officials and industry executives denied this and believed the United States was trying to limit China's economic and technological development.
During his first term as president, Trump banned China's Huawei from using the Higher U.S. Circuit.
Huawei is seen as a competitor to NVIDIA, an American semiconductor giant that has produced its own brand of "rise" AI chips. Washington restricted NVIDIA's AI chip exports to China in April.
But NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang recently warned that attempts to block China's AI technology through export control have largely failed.
The suspension of semiconductor sales will limit the supply of aerospace equipment needed for Chinese commercial aircraft, the C919, a signature project for China to move towards economic and transport self-reliance.
Christopher Johnson, a former CIA China analyst, told the Financial Times that new export controls this week highlighted the "innate vulnerability of the tariff armistice reached by Geneva."
He added: "Both sides want to retain and continue to demonstrate the effectiveness of their respective stifling capabilities, and even within a 90-day pause, the risk of a ceasefire potential collapse is everywhere."
U.S. officials expect the Geneva talks will lead to China relaxing its export restrictions on rare earth elements. So far, there are almost no signs.
Rare earth minerals are a valuable set of minerals needed to produce a variety of commodities in the fields of defense, medical and technology.
Rare earth metals, including Scandium and Yttrium, are also key in producing components in capacitors - electric parts that help AI servers and smartphones.
China launched about 90% of the world's rare earth minerals in April and established export controls in April to deal with Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs in April, triggering alarms from U.S. companies.
For example, last week, Ford temporarily closed a Chicago factory that built a utility vehicle after one of its suppliers ran out of a professional rare earth magnet.
In most new cars, especially overhead vehicles (cars with robotics that allow them to climb up on obstacles”), these high-tech magnets are used to operate brakes and parts for steering systems, power seats and fuel injectors.
Limitations on the supply of rare earth minerals provide Beijing with a strategic advantage in future negotiations as it can limit the supply of key technologies in the U.S. industry.