EU lawyers are preparing to mount a legal challenge against President Trump's hugely controversial US border tax proposals in what could be the biggest case in World Trade Organisation history.

Mr Trump's proposed "border adjustment system" would see US imports subjected to tax, while export revenues exempted. The reforms have been described as potentially one of the biggest shake-ups in trade in the past century.

Bu according to the Financial Times, lawyers in Brussels are already gearing up to challenge Mr Trump's proposals.

Jyrki Katainen, the European Commission's Vice President, told the newspaper: "If someone is behaving against our interests or against international rules in trade then we have our own mechanisms to react."

He said the EU was seeking to avoid a potential trade war with the US as it would be "disastrous" for the world economy.