U.K. Chancellor Rachel Reeves today reassured eurozone finance ministers that Britain won’t pick between the EU and the U.S. once Donald Trump becomes president.
Reeves today became the first U.K. chancellor to attend a meeting of EU finance ministers since Brexit, as the Labour government seeks to improve relations with the bloc.
As part of the charm offensive, the U.K. finance minister in a speech dismissed the idea that Britain would have to pick sides in a possible trade war between the EU and U.S.
“The idea that the UK, or indeed the EU, must choose between those allies, that somehow we’re either with America or the EU, is completely wrong,” she told the Eurogroup.
“We want to and we will seek a deeper, more mature relationship with our European neighbours too after too many years of actively looking to move away.”
In her pitch to Brussels, Reeves called for trade barriers between the EU and U.K. to come down — warning the dent to exports was hurting economies on both sides of the English Channel — and pushed the City of London as a growth engine for the bloc.
Still, she said the U.K. would still “remain committed to our relationship with the U.S.”
And the chancellor also said she wanted to create “a stable, long-term relationship with China.”
