Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the American trade representative Jamieson Greer met a meeting last week with the Chinese Vice Prime Minister He Lifeng and Minister of Trade Li Chenggang in Madrid. They announced a “framework agreement” about Tiktok, the Chinese app used by millions of Americans.
But the story is not just about ticktok. It is also about how America uses tapping as a lever – and why that lever is more necessary than ever.
Tiktok is in itself an important issue: control over data, algorithmic influence, foreign ownership – all of which are crucial for national security. Moreover, Tiktok, however, is a tool that the US can and must use in constant commercial involvement, and to combat the growing leverage of China in rare earths, critical minerals and semiconductors.
Treasury secretary Scott Bessent focuses on the media while leaving a meeting with Chinese representatives on September 15, 2025 in Madrid, Spain. (Gustavo Valiente/Europe Press via Getty images)
When I served in the first government of President Donald Trump (“Trump 45”), the core issues we have confronted include an enormous trade balance, theft of intellectual property, Cyber-Teft and the expansion of China’s belt and road infrastructure. These were predatory practices in trade, technology and finances. Today, in “Trump 47”, the Battlefront has been broadened – but one thing that has not changed is the psychological warfare that the Chinese use at every time that negotiations are underway.
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I was in the middle of one of the most dramatic examples of this during Trump 45 …
After an exhausting month of preparation work, I went on board my flight to Beijing in March 2018 with OPTIVE OPTIMIM. I had worked intensively on this trip, with the preparation of an extensive framework document with a new trade agreement with China, a proposal that would overhaul almost every aspect of the economic relationship between the US-China.
We had sent the proposal a few days earlier to our Chinese counterparts, and now our trade delegation was at a high level on the way to Beijing to negotiate the biggest change in trade relationships in at least 10 years. The cast of characters illustrates how important this trade agreement could be. The Secretary Steven Mnuchin (head of the delegation), under secretary David Malpass and Me (Treasury), Secretary Wilbur Ross (Commerce), American trade representative Robert Lighthizer and several of his delegates, NEC director Larry Kudley,) under Secretary,)) and Peter Kudlow,))),))))))))))),))))))))))))))), Assistant to the president and director or president or president or president or president or president or president or president or president or president or president or president or Flaimuring Policy).
Trump’s rates force China to feel the heat
We arrived at the American embassy in Beijing with about an hour to assess our plans again before we had to leave for Diaoyutai – the state building where Mao and every leader have since entangled foreign dignitaries. But there was a surprise for us waiting for our embassy: a brand new proposal, prepared by the Chinese, which they found at the eleventh hour, and which we had never seen before. It was about 15 pages long – and completely in Chinese!
I was one of the few people in the room who could read it. After a quick scan I said to the group: “This is completely unacceptable. This document says nothing – they just mess with us.” A heated debate followed about how to respond and how the Chinese would probably respond. But there was no time to reach a consensus; It was time to leave for Diaoyutai.
There was a massive exit from the secure room where we met at the embassy, and almost as a well -choreographed ballet with a hundred moving parts, we all shuffled to our designated cars. While Secretary Mnuchin entered the Limousine to take us to the meeting, Malpass insisted that I was driving the secretary and pushed me in the chair next to Mnuchin and said: “We have to know exactly what this says – can you translate it on the way?”
While we rushed through the streets of Beijing, I was in the back seat, literally Shvitzing as a technical term in Chinese became all the better from me, and furiously translated when I read out loud, in English, which the Chinese had dropped in our laps.
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Even when we climbed the stairs in the building and entered the meeting room, none of us was pretty sure how Mnuchin would treat this hot potato. After Deputy Prime Minister Liu, he is flowing flow of diplomatic policies that welcomed us to China, the secretary calmly explained as an answer: “We received your concept. Thank you for sending – but we will use our design for today.” It was not the preamble they expected. But it was completely consistent with the new tone that President Trump had set from the day he took on.
Nowadays, China has switched from rates and IP -theft to controlling choke points -especially in rare earth elements, critical minerals, semiconductors and advanced production capacity. The figures are clear indicators for the leverage of China.
China accounts for around 70 % of global rare earth extraction and about 90 % of the world’s rare earth refining and divorce capacity. In 2023, China checked 61 % of the global mining of rare earth magnet rates and 92 % of the refining capacity for those magnets.
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About semiconductors: While American companies remain strong in chip design and advanced R&D, China’s share has risen in the added value of the semiconductor industry (from around 8 % in 2001 to more than 30 % in 2016), and China is aggressive to become self -sufficient in the production of adult junctions.
These are not passive statistics. They are active levers that China already uses in trade negotiations due to export restrictions, license control or by threatening disturbances. In April 2025, for example, China added – clearly in response to the daring tariff movements of President Trump – export licenses and restrictions for seven heavy rare earth elements, including dysprosium, Terbium, Samarium, Plus Rare Earth Magnets – Materials Crucial and Defensions, Electronines.
The challenges with which Trump’s first term is confronted have only evolved – are not relaxed. The trade deficit is large, IP and technical theft are growing more dangerous, predatory development financing practices and the leverage of China in rare earths, semiconductors and control over supply chains threatens worldwide development and American autonomy.
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Tiktok is a heading problem that influences critical issues of data, influence and national security. But it is also an essential lever to prevent the new pressure points that China insists. Madrid and the Trump – XI call from Friday offer an opportunity to reform this wider competition.
As I demonstrate in “a chair at the table”, the strategy and policy of President Trump during his first administration enabled us to exert maximum pressure on our counterparts and to stay with solid negotiating positions and erases. Last week’s dialogues show that Trump will continue to insist on content about symbolism, an approach that is crucial for our national interest.
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