Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said President Donald Trump doesn’t determine trade policy based on stock-market levels and that the commander-in-chief won’t change his mind on hard-line policies no matter how far the Dow Jones industrial average plunges.
"There's no bright line level of the stock market that's going to change policy," Ross told CNBC.
U.S. stock index futures were lower on the first trading day of the second half of this year, as worries of a trade war between the United States and other major economies did not let up, Reuters reported.
"The president is trying to fix long-term problems that should have been fixed a long time ago."
"There is obviously going to be some pulling and tugging as we try to deal with very serious problems," he continued. "There will be some hiccups long the way."
Ross said the Trump administration would never announce a stock market level for pulling back trade even if there were one, which he stressed there's not.
"You can't deal with day-to-day stock market fluctuations," he said.
Trade war worries were also being compounded by a threat from the European Union to hit the United States with almost $300 billion in retaliatory tariffs.
On Friday, Canada struck back at the Trump administration over U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs, vowing to impose punitive measures on C$16.6 billion ($12.63 billion) worth of American goods.
It was the first day of the new month, quarter and half-year but there was no respite for bruised investors after the worst start to a year for world shares since 2010.
“The trading in the new quarter is getting off to an ugly start as hostile trade talks and retaliation by trading partners weigh on the markets. These effects are sending shock waves across the global markets,” Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial in New York, wrote in a note.
Also weighing on the sentiment was lower crude prices, as Trump said Saudi Arabia has promised to raise oil production if needed. Brent crude LCOc1 fell 0.9 percent, after gaining more than 5 percent last week.
(Newsmax wire services contributed to this report).
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