US President Donald Trump says he is ready to intensify his trade war with China by slapping tariffs on all USD 500bn of imports from the country.
"I’m ready to go to 500," he said in an interview with the CNBC channel.
Last week, Washington listed USD 200bn worth of additional Chinese products it intends to place tariffs on as soon as September.
The list named more than 6,000 items including food products, minerals and consumer goods such as handbags, to be subject to a 10% tariff.
It is still under public consultation, to last until the end of August.
The President has also been complaining that a strengthening dollar has been hurting US business.
In a series of tweets he blamed the higher dollar on currency "manipulation" by China and the European Union.
Mr Trump also criticised the US Federal Reserve for raising interest rates.
"The United States should not be penalized because we are doing so well. Tightening now hurts all we have done," he said in a tweet.
The US and China have already imposed tit-for-tat tariffs of USD 34bn on each other’s goods. The President’s threat to raise that to USD 500bn represents a major escalation.
"We’re down a tremendous amount," Mr Trump told CNBC, reiterating his view that China’s trade surplus with the US amounts to unfair trading practices.
When asked if the move might cause a stock market sell-off, he responded: "Well, if it does, it does. Look, I’m not doing this for politics. I’m doing this to do this right thing for our country."
