U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to address a longstanding trade deficit with the European Union, saying he will reverse that by imposing tariffs or making the EU buy more U.S. oil and gas.

Mr Trump has also withdrawn the US from the Global Tax Deal - an agreement on a global minimum corporation tax.

The executive order entitled America First Trade Policy set up a new department to try to deal with the fact that tariffs are not paid for by foreign corporations, but by US firms and consumers.

The bloc's defence push could potentially be used as leverage in a trade standoff with Trump, according to Stephane Sejourne, the EU's commissioner for industrial strategy, who noted Europe's economy needs to be in good health to allow for more security spending.

Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg’s daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union.

President Donald Trump has given everyone at Davos something to talk about with his actions on the first day of his second term

BRUSSELS: The EU's top diplomat and Poland's prime minister said on Wednesday (Jan 22) that the bloc must heed US President Donald Trump's demand to spend much more on defence - faced with the

EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič extended an olive branch to Washington on Wednesday, two days after the U.S. president was sworn in. He told POLITICO that Brussels was ready to talk with the new Washington administration — despite the repeated threats that Trump has made to hit the 27-nation bloc with tariffs.

Donald Trump on Thursday will star in an eagerly-anticipated online appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, addressing global elites whose annual gabfest has been consumed by the US president's days-old second term.