Trump and Martin are still speaking to reporters at the Oval Office.
“The EU was set up in order to take advantage of the United States,” Mr Trump says.
Asked if Ireland was also taking advantage of the US, he said: “Of course they are. I have great respect for Ireland, for what they did and they should have done just what they did.
“But the United States shouldn’t have let that happen. We had stupid leaders, we had leaders who didn’t have a clue.
“All of a sudden Ireland has our pharmaceutical companies, this beautiful island of five million people has got the entire US pharmaceutical industry in its grasps,” Trump says.
“I have property in Ireland, as you know, and I love it, it does great, but I’d like to see the United States not have been so stupid for so many years, not just with Ireland, with everybody.
“For instance, when the pharmaceutical companies started to go to Ireland, I would have said ‘that’s OK if you want to go to Ireland, I think it’s great, but if you want to sell anything into the United States I’m going to put a 200% tariff on you so you’re never going to be able to sell anything into the United States’.
“You know what they would have done? They would have stayed here.”
Trump’s comments reflect his views on trading with Canada and European countries in recent weeks, in which he claims several countries are taking advantage of the United States.
He said in today’s news conference that the US “has been abused but will be abused no longer”.
Watch the news conference in the Oval Office here.
