US warns UK-EU alignment hindering trade deal expansion

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has said the UK’s continued alignment with European Union rules is complicating efforts to expand a trade agreement reached with President Donald Trump’s administration last year.

Greer said Britain’s adherence to EU regulations posed “a problem” for London’s efforts to broaden the trade deal, as Prime Minister Andy Burnham seeks closer post-Brexit cooperation with Brussels.

Asked whether the UK was making full use of the “freedom” created by its departure from the EU, Greer told the Financial Times: “No, they're not.”

“Based on my conversations with the UK, where I say, 'Hey, you're free of the EU. Why don't you liberalise a little bit, accept goods made to American standards, accept agricultural goods made to American standards?'” he said.

“They say, 'Well, we have to wait and see what the EU says about it.' You know that is a problem for us, and that's challenging.”

Greer’s comments come as Burnham seeks to build on former Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s efforts to strengthen post-Brexit ties with the European Union.

During a visit to London this week, French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris and London “remain open to discussing everything, including advancing the UK reset with the European Union”.

A key EU-UK summit is expected to be held before the end of the year.

Burnham told journalists that since Brexit, “people here are fed up with the [lack of] vision, people see that we need to work closer together”.

In his first address to the British parliament as prime minister, Burnham also said this week that Brexit had contributed to sluggish economic growth in the UK.

Trump and Starmer announced a trade deal in May 2025 under which Washington agreed to lower tariffs on British luxury cars, as well as steel and aluminium, after the US president imposed a sweeping series of tariffs on countries around the world.

The UK government has maintained that the agreement, which allows greater access for US agricultural products including ethanol and beef, would not weaken British food standards. The issue has been politically sensitive amid concerns over US practices involving chlorinated chicken and hormone-treated beef.

The UK has also reached an agreement aimed at avoiding US tariffs on medicines by committing to pay higher prices for certain drugs.

By Vafa Guliyeva