European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has an idea for reducing the bloc’s consumption of Russian liquefied natural gas: import more from America.

The EU could buy more liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US in an attempt to persuade Donald Trump not to impose damaging import tariffs, the European Commission president has said. Ursula von der Leyen said the proposed deal would also reduce the EU’s trade surplus with the US,

The President-elect is said to be considering a plan which will see the UK “pull[ed] away from the EU” and moved towards a special trade deal with the US. Donald Trump has claimed that he intends to increase tariffs on imported goods by 10 per cent - with rises of up to 60 per cent on China imports.

Donald Trump feels neither the Labour nor Tory governments have made the most of Brexit and he wants to pull Britain away from the EU's orbit, reports say.