"I think the word recession is inappropriate," Trump said told reporters in the White House as he hosted his Romanian counterpart Klaus Iohannis.

"We're very far from recession."

After US newspapers reported that a temporary cut to the payroll tax was being mulled as part of a package of measures to stimulate the economy, Trump acknowledged that it was one of the options being discussed.

"Payroll tax is something we're ... thinking about," he said.