Donald Trump's latest claim about the EU shows how 'distorted' his view of history is

US President Donald Trump has just revealed how clueless he is about European history after claiming that the European Union (EU) was set up to “screw the United States”.

The remarks come just days after France’s President Emmanuel Macron was forced to fact-check Trump in real-time during an Oval Office meeting. And, it seems Trump has once again got things very wrong.

Trump has taken aim at the EU itself, threatening to slap the group of 27 member countries with 25 per cent tariffs and suggesting the bloc was “formed in order to screw the United States”.

His bizarre comments came during his first cabinet meeting, where he also told reporters of EU tariffs, “We have made a decision and we’ll be announcing it very soon. It’ll be 25 per cent.”

The EU was established to prevent war on the continent of Europe, particularly after World War II devastated much of it.

The idea was that making a system by which nations had economic dependence on one another would deter conflict between them.

“He is living on alternative and distorted reality,” one X/Twitter user wrote.

Another said: “What an ill-informed man this US President is.”

Responding to Trump’s tariff threats, a European Commission spokesperson said: “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 EU will always protect European businesses, workers and consumers from unjustified tariffs.”

Since Trump took office last month, he has ruffled many feathers in Europe, wrongly claiming that Ukraine started the war with Russia and labelling Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator”.

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