import .css file into .less file

Can you import .css files into .less files…?

I’m pretty familiar with less and use it for all my development. I regularly use a structure as follows:

@import "normalize";

//styles here

@import "mixins";
@import "media-queries";
@import "print";

All imports are other .less files and all works as it should.

My current issue is this:
I want to import a .css file into .less that references styles used in the .css file as follows:

@import "../style.css";

.small {
    font-size:60%;
    .type;
}
// other styles here

The .css file contains a class called .type but when I try to compile the .less file I get the error NameError: .type is undefined

Will the .less file not import .css files, only other .less ones…? Or am I referencing it wrong…?!