President Donald Trump on Friday argued "badly run and weak companies" have blamed his trade war with China for flagging business in order to mask "bad management."

His tweet comes as more companies from a range of industries have started to slam his tariffs on about $550 billion in Chinese goods. Earlier this week, more than 160 industry groups criticized Trump's latest move to slap duties on Chinese products.

Trump, who has tried to pin blame on the Federal Reserve rather than his trade conflict with the world's second-largest economy as concerns about a looming recession grow, said companies "are smartly blaming these small Tariffs" for their difficulties.

"And who can really blame them for doing that? Excuses!" the president tweeted.

Trump tweet: If the Fed would cut, we would have one of the biggest Stock Market increases in a long time. Badly run and weak companies are smartly blaming these small Tariffs instead of themselves for bad management...and who can really blame them for doing that? Excuses!

As he seeks reelection to the White House next year, Trump has fixated on the strength of the U.S. economy. He has tried to balance a desire to crack down on what he calls Beijing's trade abuses while trying not to do too much damage to U.S. stock markets or key constituencies such as farmers.