Mr Juncker was in Washington when he made the outburst in a White House meeting with the US President. He told German magazine Der Spiegel: “Trump told me about all the people from Europe who had already been to the Oval Office before me - the Chancellor, Presidents, Prime Ministers.

“And I told him: ‘They are all important, but you spoke to the wrong people. The European Commission is responsible for trade policy, not the member states’.

“That impressed him. Trump then responded: ‘I do not want an agreement at all with the European Union, I want an agreement with you’.

“I replied: ‘I am the European Union. The European Commission has sole responsibility for trade matters. An agreement with me is an agreement with the EU’.”

Mr Juncker said his strong relationship with Mr Trump had helped prevent an escalation in the trade war between Washington and Brussels.

He said: “One of my little tricks was that I only used US statistics when speaking with President Trump. When Trump would say, ‘I don’t believe your numbers’, I responded: ‘Those are your numbers!’

“I don’t agree with many of Trump’s decisions, but I respect him. He’s human too. Treating him without respect will not open doors to viable agreements

Mr Juncker who is now scheduled handover power to Ursula von der Leyen on December 1 after a failed November 1 transition.

Due to a series of embarrassing defeats, in which Ms von der Leyen has had to ask France, Hungary and Romania to put forward new candidates for her European Commission, the succession has had to be delayed.

Her appointment was controversial as she chosen behind closed doors by EU leaders as something of a compromise candidate after a failure to agree on recommendations from elected MEPS.