Trump says foreign governments will have to pay ‘a lot of money’ to lift tariffs

US President Donald Trump says foreign governments will have to pay “a lot of money” to lift sweeping tariffs that he characterizes as “medicine,” prompting further carnage in global financial markets.

Asian stocks posted steep losses in early trading on Monday and US stock market futures have opened sharply lower as investors registered concerns that Trump’s tariffs could lead to higher prices, weaker demand, lower confidence and potentially a global recession.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump indicates he is not concerned about losses that have already wiped out trillions of dollars in value from share markets around the world.

“I don’t want anything to go down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” he says as he returns from a weekend of golf in Florida.

Trump says he had spoken to leaders from Europe and Asia over the weekend, who hope to convince him to lower tariffs as high as 50% due to take effect this week.

“They are coming to the table. They want to talk but there’s no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis,” Trump says.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington yesterday to discuss, among other things, the 17 percent tariff that Trump has imposed on Israeli imports.

Israeli experts have warned that exports to the US will take a $2.3 billion hit from the tariffs, and 18,000-26,000 Israelis would likely lose their jobs.