"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.

Trade tensions between Washington and Beijing have reignited in US President Donald Trump's second presidency, with tit-for-tat duties reaching triple-digit levels at one point.

For now, both countries have de-escalated tensions but the truce remains shaky.

The US Treasury chief claimed China's new 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."

China has in recent years battled slowing economic growth and high youth unemployment, with growth hitting 5.2 percent in the second quarter.

Beijing's new measures sparked a fiery response from Trump, who on Friday said he would roll out an additional 100-percent tariff on the country's goods from November 1.

On Tuesday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC that timeline could be accelerated.

"A lot depends on what the Chinese do," Greer said in the interview, adding that Beijing had "chosen to make this major escalation."

Last week, 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.

China over the weekend accused the United States of "double standards" after Trump's threat of further tariffs.

The US leader later insisted that he wanted to "help China, not hurt it."

On Tuesday, China said it was ready to "fight to the end" in a trade war with the United States, shortly before a new wave of US tariffs on wood products took effect.

A senior US official told the FT that China International Trade Representative Li Chenggang had previewed many of China's current lines of attack that recently played out.

The official said Li was aggressive in stating that the United States would face "hellfire" if things did not go his way.