The U.S. and China have raised new tariffs and export controls on each other, but they may just be a negotiating tactic.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said the controls, issued Oct. 9, were part of Beijing's effort to "better safeguard world peace and regional stability."

“We should not miss the fundamental point on rare earths: China has crafted a policy that gives it the power to forbid any country on Earth from participating in the modern economy,” Dean Ball, who served as a senior advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy earlier this year, wrote on X on Saturday.