In Beijing’s version of the trade war, the United States is the bully and China is a victim, a rising power trying to protect the global economy while Washington unfairly hurls tariffs and technology bans its way.

在中国对贸易战的叙事中，美国是恃强凌弱者，而中国则是受害者——作为一个崛起中的大国，中国努力维护全球经济稳定，却遭遇美国不公平的关税制裁和技术禁令。

That narrative is getting harder to square with the image of China that has emerged in recent days: that of an industrial juggernaut ready to use its chokehold over minerals crucial to modern manufacturing against any country, or company, that stands in its way.

然而，近日中国展现出的形象却与此叙事愈发矛盾：这个工业巨兽正准备利用其在现代制造业关键矿产领域的垄断地位对抗任何阻碍其发展的国家或企业。

China mines and processes much of the world’s rare earths, which are needed for everything from computer chips to electric vehicles and fighter jets. In retaliation against President Trump’s tariffs and tech restrictions, Beijing has introduced a system that would control the trade of a huge swath of tech products, anywhere in the world, that contain trace amounts of Chinese rare earths.

中国开采和加工了全球大部分稀土资源，这种资源广泛应用于计算机芯片、电动汽车、战斗机等各类产品。为报复特朗普总统的关税政策和技术限制，北京曾多次限制稀土出口，引发全球供应链混乱。如今中国官员正扩大管控范围，将全球哪怕只含微量中国稀土的科技产品尽数纳入监管。

The move gives Beijing powerful leverage going into a meeting next week between Mr. Trump and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, a chance to remind Washington that China’s grip on the minerals can shape the terms of any trade truce.

此举使中国在特朗普总统与中国国家主席习近平本月可能举行的会面中掌握了强大筹码，也让中国有机会向美国表明，中国对关键矿产的掌控能力能够影响任何贸易休战的条款。

Still, the economic muscle-flexing could backfire for Beijing, which has spent years condemning the American export controls that it now says it is copying. By showing its willingness to weaponize rare earths — limiting access to only those countries that it favors — China risks looking like the irresponsible hegemon that it often accuses the United States of being.

不过，这种经济施压可能会给中国带来适得其反的效果。多年来，中国一直谴责此类出口管制措施，如今却表示自己正效仿美国的做法。通过展现将稀土武器化的意愿——仅向北京青睐的对象开放供应——中国可能会被视为其经常指责的那种不负责任的霸权国家。

“China’s walking a fine line here between strengthening its position in U.S.-China trade negotiations and scaring the rest of the world about its export control intentions,” said Neil Thomas, a fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.

“中国正走在钢丝上：一方面要巩固其在中美贸易谈判中的地位，另一方面又要避免让世界其他国家对其出口管制意图产生恐慌，”亚洲协会政策研究所中国分析中心研究员牛犇(Neil Thomas)表示。

China has pressed Washington to drop its restrictions on exports of advanced semiconductor chips, lower tariffs and remove obstacles to Chinese investment in the United States. In response, Mr. Trump has threatened an additional 100 percent tariff on Chinese products and export restrictions on U.S. software.

中国敦促华盛顿取消对先进半导体芯片的出口限制，降低关税并消除中国对美投资的障碍。作为回应，特朗普威胁对华商品加征100%关税，并对美国软件实施出口限制。

The two sides, analysts believe, could try to stabilize the relationship and agree to suspend their most punitive measures — meaning a pause on U.S. tariffs and expanded tech restrictions, and a delay in the Chinese controls on rare earths.

分析人士认为，双方可能试图稳定关系，并同意暂停最严厉的惩罚性措施——这意味着美国将暂停加征关税和扩大技术限制，而中国则推迟实施稀土出口管制。

位于中国北方的包头市的一家稀土精炼厂。

The Chinese controls would require exporters, starting in December, to seek approval from Beijing to sell components that include Chinese rare earths or were made with Chinese equipment. Chinese officials say the rules are meant to prevent the country’s rare earths from being used to develop weapons. But they would also allow Beijing to selectively turn the spigot on or off for political reasons.

中国出口管制自12月起生效，出口商若销售含中国稀土或使用中国设备制造的零部件，则须获得北京批准。中方官员称此举旨在防止稀土资源被用于武器研发，但该机制也赋予北京基于政治考量选择性控制供应的权力。

“If bilateral relations are bad or not good, then it may take a long time to handle the applications for export. Or even in some cases, applications may be rejected,” said Wu Xinbo, dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.

“如果双边关系不佳，那么出口申请可能需要很长时间才能处理，甚至在某些情况下可能会被拒绝，”上海复旦大学国际问题研究院院长吴心伯表示。

China has also said that Beijing is merely mirroring extraterritorial export controls first imposed by the United States, like those imposed to block technology to the Chinese tech giant Huawei.

中国还表示，此举只是效仿美国及其盟友率先实施的跨境出口管制措施，例如美国为阻止向中国科技巨头华为提供技术而采取的限制。

“We basically followed the precedent set up by the U.S. and its allies a long time ago, so if you want to say this is coercive, fine, you know, we just learned from you, right?” Mr. Wu said.

“我们基本上是遵循了美国及其盟友很久以前设定的先例，所以如果你想说这是胁迫行为，那也可以，你知道，毕竟我们是向你们学的，不是吗？”吴心伯说。

That naked coercion, which some analysts have compared to Mr. Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs for its wide-reaching, one-sided approach, may undermine efforts by Chinese leaders to cast their country as a reliable trading partner, a defender of globalization and a viable alternative to the United States as a global leader.

这种赤裸裸的胁迫行为——因其影响广泛且单边性强，一些分析师将其与特朗普的“解放日关税”相提并论——可能会削弱中国领导人试图塑造的形象：可靠的贸易伙伴、全球化的捍卫者，以及能够替代美国的全球领导者。

As the backlash against the measures has grown, Chinese officials have been trying to downplay them, saying that they are not export bans.

随着国际社会对该举措的反对声浪日益高涨，中国官员正试图淡化其影响，称这些措施并非出口禁令。

China’s vice commerce minister Ling Ji met on Monday with representatives of more than 170 foreign companies and business groups, offering reassurances that China would continue to approve “legitimate” transactions and maintain stability in the supply of rare earths.

中国商务部副部长凌激周一会见了170多家外国企业和商业团体的代表，承诺中国将继续批准“合法交易”，维护全球稀土供应链的稳定。

But experts say China is unlikely to roll back the measures. Chinese officials have been honing export controls as a tool since as early as 2017.

但专家表示，中国不太可能撤销这些措施。早在2017年，中国官员就已开始将出口管制打造成一种政策工具。

“The gun is loaded, and they’ve demonstrated their intention to pull the trigger at some point,” said Rush Doshi, a former Biden administration official and author of “The Long Game: China’s Grand Strategy to Displace American Order.”

“枪已上膛，他们已经表明了在适当时候扣动扳机的意图，”前拜登政府官员、《长期博弈——中国取代美国秩序的宏伟战略》(The Long Game: China’s Grand Strategy to Displace American Order)一书作者拉什·多希表示。

“So the question now is only what issue they’ll pull the trigger on,” he said. Beijing, he added, is likely to use the controls to strengthen its hand first in economic negotiations and eventually over other issues, including its claims over Taiwan, the island democracy.

“所以现在的问题只是他们会在哪个问题上扣动扳机，”他还说，中国可能会首先利用这些管控措施在经济谈判中增强筹码，最终将其应用于其他问题，包括其对台湾这个民主岛屿的主张。

At home, there is a degree of national pride around the new system, with Chinese state media and commentators hailing their country’s transformation from the world’s supplier of rare earths to a leader maintaining order in the global supply of the critical elements.

在国内，新的稀土管控体系引发了一定程度的民族自豪感。中国官方媒体和评论员称赞本国已从全球稀土供应国转变为维护这一关键元素全球供应秩序的领导者。

“The U.S. is used to making moves and others following. Now that China is taking the initiative, they are a bit passive, uncomfortable, surprised and even shocked that China could be like this,” said Xu Hongcai, deputy director of the economic policy committee of the China Association of Policy Sciences in Beijing.

“以前总是美国制定规则，现在中国也开始制定规则了，美国习惯了发号施令、他人服从。如今中国掌握了主动权，他们显得有些被动、不适、惊讶，甚至对中国会采取这样的行动感到震惊，”中国政策科学研究会经济政策委员会副主任徐洪才表示。

While China has deployed various forms of economic coercion before, including cutting off shipments of rare earths to Japan in 2010, experts say the latest measures are its most aggressive.

尽管中国此前曾采取过多种形式的经济胁迫措施，包括2010年切断对日本的稀土供应，但专家表示，此次最新措施是最激进的一次。

Part of China’s goal in applying the rule globally, not just toward the United States, may be to deter other countries from trying to reduce their reliance on Chinese supply chains, a strategy known as “de-risking.”

中国将该规则设置在全球范围内，而非仅针对美国实施，其部分目标可能是阻止其他国家试图减少对中国供应链的依赖——这一战略被称为“去风险”。

“They knew they were going to get some blowback, but they thought it was important to show strength and to show the flex here, to show anyone who might be thinking about aligning with the U.S., or pursuing their own de-risking agenda, that that’s not going to be cost-less for them,” said Emily Kilcrease, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.”

“他们知道会面临一些反弹，但他们认为展示实力、展现影响力至关重要，以此向任何可能考虑与美国结盟或推行自身去风险议程的国家表明，这样做不会没有代价，”新美国安全中心高级研究员埃米莉·基尔克雷斯说。

It may be having the opposite effect.

但这可能会产生相反的效果。

周五，中国商务部长王文涛（左）出席新闻发布会。

The European Union trade chief, Maros Sefcovic, told Commerce Minister Wang Wentao of China on Tuesday that Beijing’s new rare earths regime “casts a shadow over our relationship.” Officials for the Group of 7 nations — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — have said they are considering a joint response.

欧盟贸易专员马罗斯·塞夫科维奇周二告诉中国商务部部长王文涛，中国新的稀土管控体系“给我们的关系蒙上了阴影”。由英国、加拿大、法国、德国、意大利、日本和美国组成的七国集团官员表示，他们正在考虑联合回应。

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that the United States was considering putting restrictions on software exports to China in retaliation for the rare earths restrictions, a move he said would be done with other G7 nations.

财政部长斯科特·贝森特周三表示，美国正考虑限制向中国出口软件，以报复中国的稀土管控措施，并表示将与七国集团其他国家共同实施这一举措。

“This time around you see that it’s not just the U.S. complaining,” said Kyle Chan, an adjunct researcher at the RAND Corporation focusing on China’s industrial policy. “It was many countries that felt like this is not only destabilizing for them, but it’s seen almost as an aggressive act.”

“这一次你会发现，不仅仅是美国在抱怨，”兰德公司专注于中国产业政策的兼职研究员凯尔·陈（音）表示，“许多国家都认为，这不仅破坏了它们的稳定，还几乎被视为一种挑衅行为。”