Here’s one way of doing it for $a+b$; I’ll let you worry about the other case.
You seem to be talking about complex numbers that are algebraic over $\Bbb Q$. Let $f(X)\in\Bbb Q[X]$ be the minimal polynomial for $b$. Then $f(X-a)\in\Bbb Q(a)[X]$ is a polynomial vanishing at $a+b$. Now consider $\Bbb Q(a)[X]$ as a $\Bbb Q[X]$-algebra. It’s free, with the same basis that $\Bbb Q(a)$ has over $\Bbb Q$, namely $\{1,a,a^2,\cdots,a^{n-1}\}$, where $n$ is the degree of the minimal polynomial for $a$ over $\Bbb Q$. Now you can take the norm from the ring $\Bbb Q(a)[X]$ down to $\Bbb Q[X]$, and apply this map to the element $f(X-a)$ of the upper ring. This is a polynomial in $X$ over $\Bbb Q$, and it vanishes at $a+b$, though nothing guarantees that it will be $\Bbb Q$-irreducible.
Let me show you a nontrivial example. Let $a=\sqrt2$ and $b=\sqrt[3]3$. Then the minimal polynomial of $b$ is $f(X)=X^3-3$, and $f(X-a)=X^3-3aX^2+3a^2X-a^3-3=X^3-3\sqrt2X^2+6X-2\sqrt2-3$. To get its norm, you can multiply it by its conjugate (what you get by replacing $\sqrt2$ by $-\sqrt2$) to get
$$
f(X-a)f(X+a)=X^6-6X^4-6X^3+12X^2-36X+1\,.
$$
Of course in this case, our sextic polynomial has to be $\Bbb Q$-irreducible.
EDIT AND EXPANSION: You have asked me in a comment to show an explicit calculation of a norm. Here’s the general situation: let $R$ be a ring, and $A$ an $R$-algebra that is free as an $R$-module, say of rank $n$. Then the regular representation exhibits $A$ as a subring of the ring of $n$-by-$n$ matrices over $R$. Namely, if $v\in A$, then you get the associated matrix by considering multiplication-by-$v$ as an $R$-linear transformation from $A$ to itself. With a choice of basis, you get a matrix out of this linear transformation. And the norm of $v$ is exactly the determinant of the linear transformation (and of the matrix).
Let me illustrate this by interchanging the roles of $a$ and $b$ in the above example: this requires calculating a determinant.
Now let $a=\sqrt[3]3$, $b=\sqrt2$, so that $f(X)$, the minimal polynomial for $b$, is $X^2-2$. Now form $v=f(X-a)=X^2-2aX+a^2-2$. I want the matrix of this, with respect to the basis $\{1,a,a^2\}$ for $\Bbb Q(a)[X]$ over $\Bbb Q[X]$. I need to write $v\cdot1$, $v\cdot a$, and $v\cdot a^2$ as $\Bbb Q[X]$-linear combinations of the basis elements $1$, $a$, and $a^2$. We have:
\begin{align}
v\cdot1&=(X^2-2)(1)&+(-2X)(a)&+(1)(a^2)\\
v\cdot a&=(3)(1)&+(X^2-2)(a)&+(-2X)(a^2)\\
v\cdot a^2&=(-6X)(1)&+(3)(a)&+(X^2-2)(a^2)\,.
\end{align}
That is, the matrix is
\begin{pmatrix}
X^2-2&3&-6X\\
-2X&X^2-2&3\\
1&-2X&X^2-2
\end{pmatrix}
and its determinant is exactly the polynomial I wrote before, where I used a shortcut for calculating a different norm.