India, April 7 -- President Donald Trump on Sunday refused to back down from his sweeping tariffs on imports from most of the world, insisting they will remain unless other nations balance their trade with the United States. His comments, made aboard Air Force One, come despite financial markets reeling, fears of a global recession escalating, and growing political backlash at home and abroad.

"I don't want the markets to fall, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something," Trump said, doubling down on his belief that trade deficits represent a loss and promising that the U.S. would no longer tolerate imbalanced trade relationships. "We're going to have surpluses or at worst, going to be breaking even," he added, claiming tha...