U.S. President Donald Trump listens to Peter Navarro meets with members of Congress and American manufacturers | Mark Wilson/Getty Images Trump orders US companies to find an alternative to China Trump wants manufacturing brought back to the US.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday used a tweet to order U.S. companies to find an alternative to doing business with China, as he lashed out at Beijing's latest round of retaliatory tariffs and pledged to respond to them later in the day.

It was unclear exactly what Trump meant with the order or how much force it has, but the tweets captured the president's frustration as his escalating trade war with China weighs on the economy and heightens the risk of a recession during an election year.

"Our Country has lost, stupidly, Trillions of Dollars with China over many years. They have stolen our Intellectual Property at a rate of Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year, & they want to continue," Trump wrote. "I won’t let that happen! We don’t need China and, frankly, would be far better off without them."

He countinued, "The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP. Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA. I will be responding to China’s Tariffs this afternoon. This is a GREAT opportunity for the United States."

China on Friday announced a fresh round of tariffs on $75 billion in U.S. goods, threatening to exacerbate anxieties about a languishing global economy. The tariffs will range from 5 to 10 percent, Beijing said, and will go into effect in waves beginning Sept. 1 and Dec. 15.

Trump has pinned blame on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell while heralding what he says is a booming economy.

China’s state-run news agency Xinhua quoted the country’s tariff commission Friday, which said the penalties were in response to levies threatened by the U.S. on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods.

“The U.S. measures have led to the continuous escalation of China-U.S. economic and trade frictions, which have greatly harmed the interests of China, the U.S. and other countries, and have also seriously threatened the multilateral trading system and the principle of free trade,” Beijing said.

The announcement from China was shortly followed by a speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in which he said the central bank stands ready to do what is necessary to support the record-long U.S. economic expansion. But he did not signal that significant interest rate cuts will be coming soon, angering Trump.

"As usual, the Fed did NOTHING! It is incredible that they can 'speak' without knowing or asking what I am doing, which will be announced shortly. We have a very strong dollar and a very weak Fed. I will work 'brilliantly' with both, and the U.S. will do great," Trump tweeted.

He then launched a personal attack on Powell, writing, "My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?"

Earlier on Friday, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, who provides a strong protectionist voice on U.S. trade talks within the Trump administration, denied that China's announcement caught the White House off guard and downplayed the impact of the move.

“This was a move that was well-signaled,” he told CNN’s Jim Sciutto in an interview. “It's breaking news I guess, but it was well anticipated.”

Though he conceded the economy was slowing, Navarro blamed the Fed for slow-walking interest rate cuts, calling economic worries "a pure Federal Reserve effect on higher interest rates."

Navarro was pressed on some business leaders’ admissions that the uncertainty because of the trade war was dampening investment, but he again blamed monetary policy emanating from the Fed.

“They can't make investments because the Fed raised interest rates too far, too fast — that policy — Fed policy is if you raise interest rates, you cut down investment and you cut down exports,” he argued.

The latest front in the tariff battle between China and the U.S. comes as fears grow about a recession. Trump has tweeted relentlessly about the issue in recent days, pinning blame on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell while he heralded what he says is a booming economy.

The central bank and Powell have become favorite punching bags of Trump as ominous economic signs have emerged ahead of next year’s election.

But, Navarro told Sciutto unprompted at the top of the interview, there's "no anxiety in the White House about the economy.”

"We don't run around the West Wing with anxiety. We look at the chessboard and we see basically a strong Trump economy growing at 2 percent because of tax cuts, deregulation, cheap energy and trade," he said.

Navarro also defended Trump's decision this month to delay tariffs on certain Chinese goods like electronics and some clothing until Dec. 15, citing a desire to avoid the tariffs hampering the Christmas shopping season. He would not say if Trump would reimpose those tariffs in light of China's latest move, saying the White House would have conversations about it and reiterating that "what I can tell you this is this news today is not breaking news."

In his later tweets, Trump also singled out shipping companies, writing, "Also, I am ordering all carriers, including Fed Ex, Amazon, UPS and the Post Office, to SEARCH FOR & REFUSE, all deliveries of Fentanyl from China (or anywhere else!). Fentanyl kills 100,000 Americans a year. President Xi said this would stop - it didn’t. Our Economy, because of our gains in the last 2 1/2 years, is MUCH larger than that of China. We will keep it that way!"