Donald Trump on Sunday described the European Union as top of his list of global foes while downplaying expectations of his summit with Vladimir Putin, which takes place in Helsinki on Monday.

During an interview with US TV network NBC, filmed at his Turnberry golf course in Scotland at the end of his UK visit, the US leader was asked to identify his "biggest competitor, his biggest foe".

To the surprise of many, he listed the EU ahead of both Russia and China.

Mr Trump said: "Well, I think we have a lot of foes. I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us on trade. Now, you wouldn't think of the European Union but they're a foe.

"I respect the leaders of those countries but in a trade sense, they've really taken advantage of us. And many of those countries are in NATO and they weren't paying their bills."

His comments came hours before he was due to leave the UK for Helsinki for his one-to-one with Mr Putin. Mr Trump said Russia was also a foe "in many respects" and also called China an "economic foe".