Trump tariffs: US President says EU has made it 'almost impossible' to do business inside the bloc

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President Donald Trump has said the EU has made it “almost impossible” for the US to do business with it, working to justify his proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum that many Republicans fear will catalyse a trade war.

“The European Union has not treated us well, and it's been a very, very unfair trade situation,” Mr Trump said during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Stefan Lofven of Sweden, which is a member of the EU. “I'm here to protect. And one of the reasons I was elected is I'm protecting our workers, I'm protecting our companies.”

He continued: “We're doing tariffs on steel. We cannot lose our steel industry. It's a fraction of what it once was. And we can't lose our aluminum industry. Also a fraction of what it once was.”

Mr Lofven reportedly told Mr Trump on behalf of the EU that if the US imposed steel and aluminum tariffs, the bloc would slap back with punitive tariffs on goods such as bourbon and jeans.

“You know, when we're behind on every single country, trade wars aren't so bad,” Mr Trump said at the press conference.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had told a House panel earlier in the day that the administration is “not looking to get into trade wars.”

The proposed tariffs have drawn opposition from Republican leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, and Mr Trump’s own economic adviser Gary Cohn.

The White House announced on Tuesday that Mr Cohn would resign from his post.

Mr Ryan, whose home state of Wisconsin could be hit by proposed counter-tariffs from the EU, has called for “more surgical and more targeted measures.”

But the White House has maintained that across-the-board tariffs are needed because countries like China use other countries for shipping steel to the US, disguising its origin.

“It doesn’t look good when [the steel] all comes out of China, so they send it through other countries, and it comes to us,” Mr Trump said at the press conference. “And it's putting our steel mills out of business. Our aluminum mills are going out of business. And we need steel and we need aluminum.”

For his part, Mr Lofven said that “as a member of the European Union, I think it's important for us to try to find a way to cooperate between the European Union and the United States.”

He understands and respects Mr Trump’s view, he said, but “it is crucially important that we have this open and free trade.”

One area where it appears Sweden and the US are cooperating is North Korea.

Mr Lofven told the news conference that Sweden could provide a channel for the main parties grappling with the North Korea nuclear issue because of its longtime diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.

“It is not up to us to solve the problem but with our presence ... if the key actors ask us to help we can be there,” Mr Lofven said.

Mr Trump called an offer by North Korea to discuss giving up its nuclear weapons sincere, even as US, South Korean and Japanese officials expressed scepticism about whether such discussions would actually occur.

“I think that they are sincere,” Mr Trump said, referring to North Korea. “And I think they're sincere also because of the sanctions and what we're doing with respect to North Korea, including the great help that we've been given from China.”

The US had ratcheted up sanctions against North Korea in an effort to put pressure on the government of Kim Jong-un to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.