game of chicken again?

Trump in recent days listed the array of tricky issues on the table between the US and China. Those include a wish for increased soybean purchases from the US, a crackdown on fentanyl, questions around Taiwan, the race for AI dominance, and, of course, that thorny issue of China's recent moves to close off its rare earth exports globally.

"I don't want them to play the rare earth game with us," Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington on Sunday evening.

Trump noted Monday that China may offer threats over the rare earths issue. But, he added, his counterthreat would be triple-digit tariffs. "I could threaten them with many other things," he added.