Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump on Friday morning defended his tariffs against China despite market concerns, at one point saying, "we've already lost the trade war."

The President took to Twitter and a radio interview to make his case after he threatened tariffs on $100 billion more in Chinese goods.

"We've already lost the trade war. We don't have a trade war. We've already lost," Trump told WABC radio, noting the US trade deficit with China and the country's theft of US intellectual property.

Amid jittery markets -- Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down more than 250 points Friday morning -- Trump acknowledged in the interview that "I'm not saying there's not going to be any pain" but insisted, "we're going to be much stronger for it."

He also blamed what he said was inaction by previous administration on the matter, saying, "we had no choice." The President added that he had "a lot of respect" for his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, and said "I hope we work it out."

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