Donald Trump has declared being president one of the "great losers of all time" financially as he lambasted suggestions he was making money out of the office.

The US president also indicated he is preparing to declare a national emergency in order to build a wall on the Mexico border, calling ongoing negotiations with Democrats in Congress a "waste of time".

Mr Trump also said he has been informed he is not personally a "target" in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russia in 2016.

His comments came on a day when it emerged the US economy added 304,000 jobs in January, almost twice what economists had forecast. Mr Trump tweeted: "JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!"

The president has been accused by critics of violating the "emoluments clause" in the US Constitution, which bars gifts from foreign states, due to diplomats and other officials staying at his hotel in Washington, a few blocks from the White House.

But in an interview with the New York Times, Mr Trump said he had actually lost out on business opportunities because he was president.

He said: "I lost massive amounts of money doing this job. This is not the money. You know, fortunately, I don’t need money. This is one of the great [financial] losers of all time.