U.S. President Donald Trump said his conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week was friendly and he thought he could reach a trade deal with China.

President Donald Trump widened his tariff threats to include China and the European Union on his second day back in office after day one saw Canada and Mexico in his sights.

Chinese officials were prepared for Donald Trump to deliver bad news on his return to the US presidency: immediate 60 per cent tariffs on exports that could deal a serious blow to the world’s second-largest economy.

Reich also criticises Trump's executive order to end birthright citizenship - where anyone born in the US becomes a citizen - saying it's a violation of the US constitution: "Decent people could lose their citizenship... children could lose their parents...some parents may not have the right papers."

A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order ending the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship regardless of the parents’ immigration status.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, signed the temporary restraining order on Thursday to block Trump’s action. Coughenour’s decision just days after a number of states, including New Jersey, sued the Trump administration over the move.

Mr. Puzder, a former fast food executive, was nominated in 2017 to be President Trump’s labor secretary, but he withdrew amid bipartisan scrutiny of his business record and character.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he is nominating Andrew Puzder, a former CEO of CKE Restaurants, as his choice for U.S. ambassador to the European Union, a day after the new U.S. leader vowed to hit the EU with tariffs.