Trump tells Laura Ingraham Europe has ‘raped and pillaged’ the US

Trump claimed many of the problems with the U.S. economy were caused ‘by our friends’

In his latest affront to the nation’s allies, President Donald Trump claimed the European Union has “raped and pillaged” the U.S.

Trump spoke to Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday about the economy and the potential for a recession this year.

Trump didn’t directly answer when asked if he would rule out the possibility of a recession, claiming instead that the country’s problems were fueled by their allies.

“We’re gonna have the strongest economic country in the history of the world, of the planet,” he replied, dodging the question. “We are taking in so much money. Now, some people are unhappy because, you know, it has to come from somewhere. Some of it’s gonna come from Europe because not everybody’s gonna be doing as much business in Europe and other places.”

Trump then described himself as a “nationalist” and touted his recent talks with the leaders of Ukraine and Russia toward ending the war.

President Donald Trump claims the European Union economically 'raped and pillaged' the U.S. (Fox News)

Ingraham pivoted back to the economy. “How do interest rates end up going down when we’re servicing our debt to the tune of about $1.2 trillion a year and they’re still deficit spending in Congress?” she asked. “How do we do that?”

The president said the U.S. has to pay off its debt. “We’re very under-leveraged when you look at the asset value of this country. But we’re over-leveraged in terms of cash flow. We’re gonna have big cash flow,” he said.

“For years, we allowed our country to be raped and pillaged,” said Trump, who was found civilly liable for sexual abuse and has been publicly accused of sexual misconduct by 28 women. “Raped and pillaged. Terrible expressions. And that’s what happened. Much of it was done by our friends. Look at the European Union. We can’t sell cars to them, but they sell millions of cars to us. They don’t take our agricultural product, but we take theirs. The days are changing. We’re not gonna let this happen.”

The comments come weeks after Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, prompting the European Union to immediately retaliate. “The countermeasures we take today are strong but proportionate,” Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said when announcing tariffs worth €26 billion .

Trump also threatened a 200 percent tariff on alcoholic beverages imported from the 27-member bloc if it didn’t “immediately” remove its levies on American whiskey, he said in a Truth Social post earlier this month.

In that post, he also falsely claimed on Truth Social that the European Union was “formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States.”

During a cabinet meeting in February, Trump similarly claimed: “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.”