Donald Trump attacks ECB for 'currency manipulation'

Donald Trump has accused the European Central Bank (ECB) of unfairly manipulating the euro, further raising the stakes for Washington in its trade and diplomatic disputes around the world.

The US president suggested in a tweet that comments by Mario Draghi, the head of the ECB, had triggered an immediate slide in the value of the euro versus the dollar, “making it unfairly easier for them to compete against the USA”.

Reopening a spat over transatlantic trade with the EU that has repeatedly flared up during Trump’s presidency, he warned Brussels it had been “getting away with this for years, along with China and others”.

Trump’s comments come after Draghi used one of his last major speeches before stepping down as ECB president to say the central bank could act to loosen monetary policy – cutting interest rates or revamping its quantitative easing bond-buying programme – to stimulate the eurozone economy.

Economic growth in the single currency area has struggled to generate momentum in the past 18 months, while inflation across the bloc has stayed below the ECB’s target level of 2%.

Growth in key member states, including Germany, Europe’s largest economy, has come close to stalling, while Italy slid into recession.

“In the absence of improvement, such that the sustained return of inflation to our aim is threatened, additional stimulus will be required,” Draghi said, speaking at the ECB’s annual meeting in Sintra, Portugal.

Related: Donald Trump slams Mario Draghi's rate cut plans - business live

The euro weakened across the board on foreign exchanges straight after the speech, dropping by 0.3% against the dollar to trade a two-week low of $1.1182 on Tuesday.

With just four months of his eight-year term left, the slowdown in the eurozone may threaten to unpick Draghi’s legacy. The Italian is widely seen as having saved the euro after a promise in 2012 to do “whatever it takes” during the sovereign debt crisis.

Growth in the eurozone has stuttered in recent months in part because of the Trump administration’s trade war with China, which has sapped global trade and cut demand for EU exports.

Draghi warned that trade disputes were among factors affecting growth in his speech advocating potential stimulus. “The risks that have been prominent throughout the past year, in particular geopolitical factors, the rising threat of protectionism and vulnerabilities in emerging markets have not dissipated,” he said.

The US is also approaching a period of weaker growth, after repeated interest rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve served as a headwind, and as support from tax cuts introduced by Trump gradually fades.

Financial market investors believe the Fed could be forced into interest rate cuts this year as a consequence.