Not even a plummeting stock market would change Trump's trade policies, says Wilbur Ross

President Trump plans to stick to his guns, stock market be damned.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Monday told CNBC that the Trump administration won't back down from its trade policies and import tariffs, even if U.S. markets took a serious stumble.

"There's no bright line level of the stock market that's going to change policy," said Ross. "The president is trying to fix long-term problems that should have been fixed a long time ago."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

Trump and his administration have been imposing billions of dollars of tariffs and criticizing trade deals that the president views as unfair to the U.S., leading to retaliatory tariffs from some nations and uncertainty as investors wonder what will be hit next.

Ross insisted that short-term fluctuations are a necessary side effect when it comes to changing America's trade relationships with the rest of the world. "There is obviously going to be some pulling and tugging as we try to deal with very serious problems," he said.

CNBC reports that while the stock market is largely stable, forthcoming tariffs and Trump's attacks on the World Trade Organization could have an effect. Even so, Ross said that he hasn't even considered at what point he might lessen up, saying he fully anticipates some "hiccups along the way." Read more at CNBC.