(Bloomberg) — Vice President JD Vance called on Beijing to “choose the path of reason” in the latest spiraling trade fight between the US and China, claiming that President Donald Trump has more leverage.

“It’s going to be a delicate dance, and a lot of it is going to depend on how the Chinese respond,” Vance said on Fox News’s s. “If they respond in a highly aggressive manner, I guarantee you, the president of the United States has far more cards than the People’s Republic of China. If, however, they’re willing to be reasonable,” he said, then the US would, too.

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Vance’s remarks are the latest in the tit-for-tat escalation that has sapped markets and increased confusion ahead of a potential meeting later this month in South Korea between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Stocks, oil and crypto were hammered Friday by the flareup, which was stoked by a social media post from Trump threatening the US would respond to China’s imposition of export curbs on rare earths and other trade measures.

“I think that is normal reaction for the markets to have some concern,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Fox News’s . “That being said, these measures aren’t in place yet. It’s scheduled for Nov. 1. So I think we’ll see the markets calm this coming week, as they see things settle out, hopefully.”

China’s Ministry of Commerce said earlier Sunday the US should stop threatening it with higher tariffs and urged further negotiations to resolve outstanding trade issues.

Tensions flared over the past week when China announced new export controls and other measures — though some don’t take effect until November, or may not be widely enforced.

An apparently furious Trump announced Friday that he would add tariffs of 100% to Chinese goods and restrict certain US software exports, beginning Nov. 1, while also signaling he might halt shipments of aircraft parts. But Trump also said he picked a November date for negotiations.

“We’re gonna have to see what happens. That’s why I made it November 1. We’ll see what what happens,” Trump said Friday.

Vance, who said he had spoken with Trump Saturday and Sunday, said the president “appreciates the friendship that he’s developed with Xi,” but added, “We have a lot of leverage. And my hope, and I know the president’s hope, is that we don’t have to use that leverage.”

He added that the good relationship is threatened “if the Chinese go down this pathway of cutting off the entire world from access to some of the goods that they produce.”

Greer on Sunday cited wording in the Chinese Commerce Ministry statement that said exports controls aren’t the same as a ban on exports.

“Clearly, the Chinese have realized that they have wildly overstepped the bounds of what’s acceptable,” he said.

The two superpowers engaged in a spiraling trade fight this spring, ratcheting up tariffs to at least 125% on each side, before striking a deal to retreat to current levels — Chinese levies of 10% on US goods, and a combined US levy of 30% on imports from China, on top of preexisting tariffs.

“We’re going to find out a lot in the weeks to come about whether China wants to start a trade war with us, or whether they actually want to be reasonable. I hope they choose the path of reason,” Vance said.

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