U.S. President Donald Trump walks as he returns to the White House after a trip to Lewisburg, West Virginia, in Washington D.C., U.S., April 5, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday the United States has already lost any trade war, as he defended his proposed tariffs against Chinese goods, saying the move might cause “a little pain” but the United States will be better off in the long run.

“We’ve already lost the trade war. We don’t have a trade war, we’ve lost the trade war,” Trump said in a radio interview with New York radio show, 77 WABC’s “Bernie & Sid.”

“I’m not saying there won’t be a little pain, but the market has gone up 40 percent, 42 percent so we might lose a little bit of it. But we’re going to have a much stronger country when we’re finished.

“So we may take a hit and you know what, ultimately we’re going to be much stronger for it,” Trump said.