Don't judge Trump by 'your theory about what might be his results', says commerce secretary

Donald Trump's commerce secretary Wilbur Ross told "naysayers" not to judge the president on what they believe could happen, but instead to focus solely on what does happen.

"Don't judge President Trump by your theory about what might be his results," Ross told CNBC on Tuesday.

"Judge our trade policy by its results."

Earlier in March, Trump announced new tariffs on aluminium and steel, with the Commerce Department recommending the White House impose tariffs or quotas on foreign producers of the metals, citing national security concerns.

At the time of the announcement, Ross claimed that steel was important to America's national security and that current import flows had adversely affected the US's steel industry, and while Trump has said that he was open to the idea of providing tariff exemptions to the nation's key trading partners, Canada and Mexico, he would need to see something more from others before offering similar deals to others.

Ross said the European Union and China would need to start "matching their rhetoric with their behaviour" on what he deemed as "ludicrous tariffs on US products".

"It's ludicrous that a car coming into the US from abroad pays a 2.5 percent tariff; a car going from America to the EU pays a 10 percent tariff; a car going to China pays 25 percent," Ross said.

The countries "call themselves free traders," Ross added.

"I don't see how you can be a free trader when you charge a tariff that's four to 10 times what we do on the exact same product," he said.

While the EU has promised to retaliate for the president's tariffs, Ross met with German economic minister Peter Altmaier on Tuesday.

"We had a very constructive preliminary exchange on all relevant matters in our economic relationships with an eye toward relaxing trade tensions. We anticipate further discussions over the next few days," a statement issued by the pair read.

Donald Trump had previously promised to show flexibility and cooperation towards the US's "real friends" ahead of the import tariffs going live, potentially fanning the flames of a trade war with the likes Europe and China.