Trump trying to go toe to toe with Xi is an embarrassing mismatch

In Sharm el-Sheikh last week, a manically self-congratulatory Donald Trump, Gaza’s make-believe saviour, hailed his fellow “tough guys” - tame tyrants, such as Egypt’s Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, who helped fabricate his flimsy Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.

- By Simon Tisdall

Yet later this month, he is due to face a far less biddable tough guy: China’s leader, Xi Jinping. In the US-China race for 21st-century primacy, Xi is sprinting ahead, assisted by spur-heeled Trump’s many missteps.

It’s amazing that debate still rages, in the UK and US, about China’s regime. Its aggressive, economic empire-building, suppression of basic rights in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet, regional sabre-rattling and ubiquitous cyber-espionage, allow only one conclusion.

Even as British MPs argued over whether Beijing is an enemy or an investment opportunity, Xi was providing an unequivocal answer. China’s drastically expanded global export controls on rare-earth minerals and magnets, over which it exercises a near monopoly, are the deliberately damaging act of a hostile power.

These materials are essential for manufacturing most electronic devices, including phones and cars. The security implications are alarming. Rare-earth products are used in cruise missiles, combat jets, nuclear submarines, drones and other modern weapons systems. China’s new rules will prohibit their use for any military purpose. Governments are scrambling to find alternative supplies. This embargo, if enforced next month, potentially compromises western arms supplies to Ukraine and defences against Russia, Beijing’s ally.