President Donald Trump has announced he is planning to impose 25 per cent tariffs on the EU as he stated the bloc was created "in order to screw the US."

The US President made the remarks that tariffs will be coming "very soon" while holding his first cabinet meeting at the White House.

It comes as the 25 per cent tariffs on goods imported from Canada and Mexico were paused after agreements were reached on border security.

A 10 per cent tariff on imports from China was met with a 10 per cent duties on many US imports and 15 per cent tariffs on coal and liquefied natural gas.

Trump has announced the tariffs on the EU are coming soon

Asked whether he had made a decision about imposing tariffs on the EU, Trump said: "We have made a decision, we'll be announcing it very soon and it will be 25 per cent generally speaking and that will be on cars and all other things.

"The European Union is a different case than Canada, a different kind of case, they've really taken advantage of us in a different way.

"They don't accept our cars, they don't accept essentially our farm products. They use all sorts of reasons why not, and we accept everything from them, and we have about a $300billion deficit with the European Union."

He added: "The European Union, it was formed in order to screw the United States.

"Let's be honest - the European Union was formed in order to screw the United States, that's the purpose of it, and they've done a good job of it, but now I'm president."

Trump said: "The European Union, it was formed in order to screw the United States"

He added: "They can retaliate, but it cannot be a successful retaliation, because we just go cold turkey, we don't buy anymore. If that happens, we win."

A European Commission spokesperson said in response: "The EU will react firmly and immediately against unjustified barriers to free and fair trade, including when tariffs are used to challenge legal and non-discriminatory policies.

"The European Union is the world's largest free market. And it has been a boon for the United States."

This comes as Sir Keir Starmer has flown out to Washington for his first face to face meeting with Trump since the Republican returned to the White House.

The Prime Minister wants to act as a bridge between the US and European continental allies, and said he had been having “really intense discussions with our European partners, with Nato, with Ukraine, and obviously with US teams as well."

The Prime Minister wants to act as a bridge between the US and European continental allies

When asked if he was confident the UK will be exempted from tariffs, Starmer said "I’m not going to get ahead of our discussions", but he added that British trade with the US was "pretty balanced."

As well as the war in Ukraine, the ongoing situation in the Middle East and Labour's controversial Chagos deal will also be discussed.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who is also in Washington to meet his counterpart, Marco Rubio, told ITV News: “If President Trump doesn’t like the deal, the deal will not go forward.

"The reason for that is because we have a shared military and intelligence interest with the United States, and of course they’ve got to be happy with the deal, or there is no deal.

When asked if he could trust Trump following the events of recent weeks, Starmer said: "Yes, I’ve got a good relationship with him.

"I’ve met him, I’ve spoken to him on the phone and this relationship between our two countries is a special relationship with a long history, forged as we fought wars together, as we traded together. I want it to go from strength to strength."