Opening his first official week in office, President Donald Trump warned business leaders that he would impose a "substantial border tax" on companies that move their manufacturing out of the United States, while promising unspecified advantages to companies that manufacture domestically.
"All you have to do is stay," he said during a morning meeting in the White House's Roosevelt Room.
The president also planned to sign multiple executive orders in the Oval Office. Trump had pledged to quickly use his executive authority to withdraw the US from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact agreed to under the Obama administration.
He's also expected to sign an order implementing a federal government hiring freeze.
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Trump ran for office pledging to overhaul US trade policy, arguing that massive free-trade agreements have disadvantaged American workers.
Since winning the White House, he's aggressively called out companies that have moved factories overseas, vowing to slap taxes on products they then try to sell in the US.
"Some people say that's not free trade, but we don't have free trade now," Trump said Monday.
Trump's outreach effort comes after a tumultuous first weekend in the White House that included lambasting news organisations for correctly reporting on the size of the crowds at his inauguration and mass protests against his presidency on the following day.
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