Some European Union (EU) staff are being given burner phones and basic laptops before flying to the USA over fears they will be spied on by American intelligence. The new guidance, which is usually reserved for trips to China, has been put in place because the EU is “worried about the US getting into the commission systems”, according to sources.

Commissioners and senior officials are travelling to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, both in Washington DC, next week. Four well-placed sources told the Financial Times that the tech downgrade for EU staff is usually a measure taken when officials are travelling to China or Ukraine due to fears over surveillance from Beijing and Moscow.

The revelations speak to the deterioration in relations between the White House and EU Commission.

Donald Trump's tariffs, combined with his claims that the EU was set up to "screw the US", as well as the US' retreat from its security role in Europe, led one EU official to say in recent weeks that "the transatlantic alliance is over".