LONDON — Britain’s top trade ministers are being dispatched across the channel for a “Made in Europe” charm offensive.
Trade Minister Chris Bryant is heading to Paris next month to court France, the EU’s toughest industrial hawk, in a bid to ensure new EU procurement rules don’t harm British manufacturers.
Bryant is set to meet with his French counterpart, Foreign Trade Minister Nicolas Forissier, on March 17, three people familiar with the planning told POLITICO.
The diplomatic push comes in the midst of Britain’s reset of its relationship with the EU, as it seeks to smooth trade flows, ease barriers around electricity trading and link up emissions systems with its largest trade partner.
Despite this, the European Commission’s new draft legislation, the Industrial Accelerator Act, which is designed to boost green industrial production across the bloc, risks creating a rift in reset talks.
Under the plans, the act would include a “Buy European” clause that would impose new conditions on how public money is spent through procurement, state aid, tax incentives and other financial support. The legislation, due to be unveiled Feb. 25, will define the concept as it would apply in other areas of EU industrial policy.
France has long pushed for the strictest possible interpretation, arguing public funding should come with stringent conditions to ensure it favors EU manufacturers. British officials worry that U.K. companies could be frozen out of key supply chains, just as the reset gathers pace.
Trade Secretary Peter Kyle is scrambling to keep Britain in the conversation and will be heading out to Brussels later this month.
“We have a window of opportunity here to make our voice heard loud and clear before any final decisions are made in the EU, and they are listening very respectfully,” he said earlier this month.
Room for ‘trusted partners’?
The latest draft text has attempted to calm nerves, broadening the definition to include “trusted partners” whose manufacturing “should be deemed equivalent to union origin content,” POLITICO reported last week.
Still, British industry leaders remain wary, and the government is facing mounting domestic pressure not to return home empty-handed.
Energy UK, the country’s largest energy trade body, has warned it would be deeply counterproductive for the EU to introduce new barriers to U.K. firms in EU supply chains.
Adam Berman, director of policy and advocacy at Energy UK, said it would risk “alienating an ally that has made clear efforts to deepen integration and work closely together on the shared challenges and opportunities of the energy transition.”
Bryant’s talks with Forissier are also expected to cover the EU’s incoming steel tariff regime. The U.K. is lobbying hard for an exemption, while still fine-tuning its own steel measures. The government plans to reduce the tariff quota on steel allowed in tariff-free before imposing a 25 percent levy.
Both sides will also touch on the 2027 G20 Leaders’ summit, which the U.K. will host, bringing together heads of government, central bankers and finance ministers to coordinate policies on global economic stability.
The Department for Business and Trade declined to comment on Bryant’s meeting.