US President Donald Trump said a 10 percent tariff hike could be just the beginning, and might go higher if Beijing did not move quicker on a deal to resolve an ongoing trade dispute with the United States.

Answering questions on his way to a campaign rally on Thursday, the president said he was open to escalating tariffs on imports from on China, hours after he announced a 10 percent tariff on $300 billion in Chinese goods would come into effect on September 1.

Chinese President Xi “wants to make a deal, but frankly it’s not going fast enough,” Trump told reporters gathered outside the White House.

“If they don’t want to trade with us anymore that would be fine with me. We’d save a lot of money,” Trump added.

Also on rt.com Trump to impose additional 10% tariff on remaining $300 bln of Chinese imports to US from Sept 1

Asked to comment on the stock market's reaction to the news, including a dramatic drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the president said the market fluctuations did not concern him, as China was having its “worst year in 27 years.”

“It’s been proven that our people are not paying for those tariffs,” he said, arguing that China was "eating" the cost of the duties by manipulating its currency.

He left open the possibility of raising the tariffs further or eliminating them, depending on how the trade talks go in September.

Trump also brought up increased border enforcement by Mexico, a move he forced back in May by threatening tariffs that would have escalated by five percent every month.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!