Trump’s tariffs: ready to go

President Donald Trump said he was ready to impose tariffs on all $500 billion of goods the U.S. imports from China, remarks that sent financial markets retreating and threatened to escalate a trade clash with the Asian giant.

“We’re down a tremendous amount,” Trump said in an interview about trade imbalances with China on CNBC broadcast on Friday. “I’m ready to go to 500.”

Around $505 billion of Chinese goods came into the United States in 2017, leading to a trade deficit of nearly $376 billion, U.S. government data shows.

The magnitude of the imbalance has continued into 2018, with Chinese imports totaling $205 billion in the first five months of the year and the deficit reaching $152 billion.

Even while threatening China, Trump tried to reassure the Chinese government that he was not looking to “scare” the country.

“I don’t want them to be scared,” he told CNBC. “I want them to do well. I really like President Xi a lot, but it was very unfair.”

Goods already affected by Trump’s tariffs against China include batteries, trains, and ball bearings, but they could extend to more consumer goods if further tariffs are imposed.

On Thursday, the European Union said it was developing plans to hit back at the US if it attempted to place import tariffs on cars, something Trump has repeatedly threatened to do.

His administration is considering tariffs of as much as 20% on US automobile imports from Europe. EU officials are readying a list of retaliatory tariffs that would be applied in response.

Senior EU officials, including the European Commission’s president, Jean-Claude Juncker, are set to fly to Washington, DC, next week with the aim of persuading Trump not to levy punitive tariffs on European automobiles.