Washington DC - President Donald Trump accused his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, of trying to "screw" the US with an ongoing tour of South East Asia.

Xi was in Vietnam Monday, urging a fightback in the tariff war unleashed by the US on the world.

"I don't blame China," Trump said during a press conference at the White House. "I don't blame Vietnam. I don't. I see they're meeting today, and that's wonderful."

"That's a lovely meeting... like trying to figure out, how do we screw the United States of America. Don't forget, the European Union was formed to do just that."

China Xi calls on China, Vietnam to "oppose unilateral bullying" by Trump on regional tour

Trump then went on to rant about US allies, claiming that the US had been treated unfairly by the European Union, and calling most nations in NATO "delinquent."

The president's "Liberation Day" tariffs, which were mostly paused last week, hit Vietnam and Cambodia particularly hard.

Economists warned that the tariffs would devastate manufacturing in the region, leading to mass unemployment and a potential humanitarian disaster.

Xi's visit is meant to shore up Chinese influence and establish Beijing as a more reliable partner than the US. On Monday, he and Vietnam's leader To Lam signed 45 cooperation agreements.

Speaking in Hanoi, Xi urged Vietnam and China to "resolutely safeguard the multilateral trading system, stable global industrial and supply chains, and open the cooperative international environment."

Xi railed against Trump's tariff regime, insisting: "A trade war and tariff war will produce no winner, and protectionism will lead nowhere."