Director of National Economic Council (NEC) Kevin A. Hassett, speaks as United States President Donald Trump makes a statement on jobs in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., March 7. EPA-Yonhap

White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett pointed out the United States' "persistent" trade deficits with Korea, China and Europe on Monday, claiming the deficits are attributable to the countries' high tariffs and non-tariff barriers.

In an interview with CNBC, Hassett warned that countries will have to pay tariffs if they are "stuck in their ways" and do not respond favorably to President Donald Trump's trade negotiations.

The remarks came as the Trump administration plans to roll out country-by-country "reciprocal" tariffs on April 2, which will be customized based on U.S. trading partners' tariff- and non-tariff barriers and other elements, including exchange rate policies.

"We've got persistent trade deficits with Europe and with China and South Korea that have been there for year after year after year," Hassett said.

"If you look at why those trade deficits exist, it's because they have non-tariff barriers and high tariffs that make it hard for U.S. firms to compete," he added.

He said the Trump administration's expectation is that many countries will respond "favorably" to Trump's negotiation on trade issues, as he cast the president as "flexible."

"But my guess is that there are going to be a lot of countries that don't (respond favorably). ... They are stuck in their ways," he said. "And the countries that don't are going to have to pay the tariffs. That's the way it is."

Last year, Korea's trade surplus reached $55.7 billion — a point that raised concerns that the Asian ally will be put into Trump's crosshairs.

Trump's address to Congress earlier this month also underscored Trump's apparently negative view about trade relations with Korea. The president claimed Korea's average tariff is four times higher than that of the U.S., although the Asian country's tariff stands at less than 1 percent under a bilateral free trade pact.

Commenting on market concerns over Trump's trade policy uncertainty, Hassett said there will be uncertainty until April 2.

"But as April 2 comes along, markets will see that the reciprocal trade policy makes a great deal of sense, and that for a lot of countries, if they play by the rules, they are not going to be very upset at all at the way the U.S. moves," he said.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated that the Trump administration will reset the "baseline" of trade with countries to ensure fairness, stressing the president views the current state of global trade as "completely unfair" to America.

"Countries that want to (negotiate) can negotiate with us on a one-on-one bilateral basis to see if we can come up with trade deals with them that are fair to both sides," he said during a Fox News Radio interview, according to a transcript provided by his office.

"But we have to negotiate from a new status quo. We can't negotiate from the existing status quo, which is completely (unfair)."

His remarks raised the possibility that Washington could look into the fairness of its bilateral FTA with Korea. (Yonhap)