"I don't want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something," Trump told reporters regarding the economic fallout from his sweeping tariffs.

"We have been treated so badly by other countries because we had stupid leadership that allowed this to happen," he said onboard Air Force One on Sunday.

Asian markets were in for a rough start on Monday as Wall Street futures plunged and markets wagered the mounting risk of a US recession could see US rate cuts as early as May. Trump showed no sign of backing away from his tariff plans.

"What's going to happen to the markets, I can't tell you. But our country is much stronger," Trump said.

The US would not make a deal with Beijing unless the trade deficit with China was solved, Trump said.

"Unless we solve that problem, I'm not going to make a deal," Trump said.

He added that he has spoken to European and Asian leaders on the tariffs rolled out by his administration, adding "They're dying to make a deal."

US customs agents began collecting Trump's unilateral 10 per cent tariff on all imports from many countries on Saturday.

Higher "reciprocal" tariff rates of 11 per cent to 50 per cent on individual countries are due to take effect on Wednesday at 12:01 am US time (14:01 AEST).

With AAP.