Donald Trump has hinted that he will not impose import tariffs on the UK - despite saying the country is “out of line” when it comes to trade with America.

In comments that will come as a relief to the government, the president said he was sure that an agreement “can be worked out” with Britain.

However, he suggested that tariffs - which are taxes placed on goods as they enter a country - would be applied on products from the European Union “pretty soon”.

Trump told the BBC: “It will really happen with the European Union, I can tell you that, because they have really taken advantage of us. We have an over $300 billion deficit.

“They don’t take our cars, they don’t take our farm products, they take almost nothing and we take everything from them.

“The UK is out of line but I’m sure that one, I think that one, can be worked out. But the European Union, it’s an atrocity what they’ve done.”

The president also said his relationship with Keir Starmer is “very nice”.

“We’ve had a couple of meetings,” he said. We’ve had numerous phone calls. We’re getting along very well,” 

Trump has already said that most goods entering the US from Mexico and Canada will have a 25% tariff added to them, except for Canadian oil, which will see a 10% tariff.

He said it was because the two countries were not doing enough to stop drugs entering the US, or tackle illegal immigration.

Speaking on Sunday, home secretary Yvette Cooper said tariffs were “really damaging” for the world economy.

“The focus for Johnny Reynolds, our business and trade secretary, is on building trade links and better trading relations and removing barriers to trade with the US and also with other European countries and with countries right across the world,” she said.

“We want to reduce the barriers to trade, make it easier for businesses.”

Economists are almost unanimous that tariffs are passed on to the consumer as higher prices.

Trump’s warning to the EU comes as Starmer heads to Brussels for talks as part of his attempts to “reset” the UK’s relationship with the bloc.

He will also call on the EU to increase its support for Ukraine to “crush Putin’s war machine”.