Trump ‘perfectly happy’ to slap more tariffs on China if no deal is made: Commerce secretary

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Monday that President Trump is “perfectly happy” to hit China with more tariffs if Washington and Beijing are unable to reach a long-term trade agreement.

Speaking to CNBC at the Paris Airshow, Ross said Trump is fully prepared to impose tariffs on another $300 billion in Chinese goods if a long-sought trade deal is not made.

{mosads}“We will eventually make a deal, but if we don’t, the president is perfectly happy with continuing the tariff movements that we’ve already announced, as well as imposing the new ones that he has temporarily suspended,” Ross said.

Ross also tempered any expectations that a trade deal could be reached during Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s planned meeting during the Group of 20 summit in Osaka later this month.

He said the gathering of world leaders is not the place “where you’re going to negotiate a 2,500-page agreement,” adding that “there may be an agreement on the path forward, but that’s about as far as we can expect it to go,” according to CNBC.

Ross’s remarks come after trade negotiations stalled last month and Trump announced he would  increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent.

China fired back by raising tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. products.

Earlier this month, China released an official white paper that blamed the U.S. for failing to reach a trade agreement and escalating the ongoing tariff war.

Ross added that the U.S. is prepared to place sanctions on auto imports not only from China, but Europe as well.

“The U.S. market is the healthiest auto market in the world right now. The Chinese market has been crumbling, European market is stumbling as well,” he said, adding that the administration was “giving very serious thought” to imposing tariffs on all auto imports.