US Commerce Secretary Ross promises to be 'aggressive' on trade

Wilbur Ross, the new US Commerce Secretary, has emphasised that Donald Trump's administration will be 'aggressive' towards trade in order to increase employment in the US economy.

Earlier this week, the billionaire investor was confirmed for the position after a Senate hearing, garnering support from both Republicans and Democrats along the way.

In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Ross pointed out the loss of manufacturing jobs as a marker that the economy was not fulfilling its potential.

"We'll be aggressive on trade because we know that deals that have been made historically have resulted in the great loss of manufacturing jobs, a great amount of closed manufacturing businesses," Ross said. "We don't want that to continue."

The Commerce Secretary also commented that there would be a focus on loosening regulations for businesses in order to provide a further boost to commerce in the US, adding that Barack Obama's administration oversaw excessive executive orders which held back growth.

"Many of these were put in by executive orders and agency rules and those wouldn't require acts of Congress" to repeal, he said. "So we are up to our eyeballs to try to make sure we identify all of the problems."

President Trump has also vowed to introduce a border tax in order to keep US plants and companies in the country, but Ross said admitted that he is "sceptical" of that action.

"I'm a little skeptical about the theory that there's a totally free lunch and that the markets will absorb everything, but we do need something to fill that hole," Ross said.

US stocks have been reaching record highs in recent weeks as investors lap up the "Trump rally", but several analysts have forecast that the streak may come to an end soon.

"Trump's words, while lacking few if any actual details, have so far been effective in getting investors pumped up at the prospect of a stronger economy but the longer this goes on, the less effective these promises are going to become and higher the risk is that the rally will run out of steam," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.