Washington DC - Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent slammed China in a furious interview, accusing it of seeking to harm the global economy as the trade war with the US heats up.

"This is a sign of how weak their economy is, and they want to pull everybody else down with them," Bessent told the Financial Times in an interview on Monday.

His comments came days after Beijing imposed fresh controls on the export of rare earth technologies and items. China is the world's leading producer of the minerals used to make magnets crucial to the auto, electronic and defense industries.

Bessent claimed China's controls signaled problems in its own economy: "They are in the middle of a recession/depression, and they are trying to export their way out of it."

"They want to pull everybody else down with them," he claimed.

China's announcement last week sparked an immediate response from President Donald Trump, who on Friday said he would roll out an additional 100% tariff on the country's goods from November 1.

Trump also threatened to scrap a planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit starting later this month, while Beijing accused the US of "double standards."

The Republican later seemed to back down, insisting that he only wanted to "help China, not hurt it."

Beijing has vowed to "fight to the end," and a senior US official told the FT that China International Trade Representative Li Chenggang had threatened the US with "hellfire" if things did not go his country's way.