US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Sunday insisted President Trump intends to implement $60 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports, saying the measures will benefit the economy long-term. Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Mnuchin said unless a deal is reached with China, Trump will implement the tariffs targeting sectors in which Washington says Beijing has stolen American technology.

"We are going to proceed with our tariffs. We are working on that," he said.

China warned the US on Friday that it was not afraid of a trade war as it threatened tariffs on $3 billion worth of US goods in response to Trump's new measures. Mnuchin repeated Trump's assertion that "we are not afraid of the trade war" - but added he had had "very productive conversations with the (Chinese) vice premier."

"I'm cautiously hopeful we reach an agreement, but if not we are proceeding with these tariffs. We are not putting them on hold unless we have an acceptable agreement that the president signs off on," he said.

Meanwhile, despite slumps on the stock market in the wake of Trump's announcement, the Treasury secretary said the measures spell long-term benefits for the economy.

"The market will go up and down in the short term (but) the real important issue is where will it be longer-term," Mnuchin said.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2018