The US president on Sunday repeated his warning that the EU and UK could both face trade tariffs, though he added that things with the UK "can be worked out".
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US president Donald Trump has called the European Union's €300 billion deficit with the USA an "atrocity", adding that tariffs will “definitely happen” with the European Union and possibly with the United Kingdom as well.
He said, however, that the situation with the UK "can be worked out," adding that Prime Minister Keir Starmer and him are "getting along very well." He said the EU, however, was "way out of line."
Trump's comments could further strain the relationship between the EU and the UK as Britain's primer minister seeks to reset its relations with the bloc. Starmer is to visit Brussels on Monday.
Speaking before Trump's comments, and a day prior to meeting with EU leaders in Brussels, Keir Starmer said he would seek a strong trade relationship with the US.
“In the discussions that I have had with President Trump, that is what we have centred on, a strong trading relationship,” he said. “So it is very early days.”
Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Sunday, Trump said "the United States has been ripped off by virtually every country in the world."
On Saturday, he had signed an order to impose stiff tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada and China.
Trump added that he's had a busy weekend dealing with Ukraine and Russia and held discussions with Israel ahead of Prime Minister's Benjamin Netanyahu visit to the US.
The trade penalties that Trump signed on Saturday at his Florida resort caused a mix of panic, anger and uncertainty, and threatened to rupture a decades-old partnership on trade in North America while further straining relations with China.
He said that Americans could feel “some pain” from the emerging trade war triggered by his tariffs.