Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been urged to "wake up and smell the coffee" after suggesting that the UK's trade relationship with the European Union is "arguably even more important" than ties with the United States.
Sparking controversy ahead of her meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the Chancellor had travelled to Washington for talks aimed at securing a trade deal, to mitigate the impact of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump earlier this month.
Speaking to the BBC, Reeves said: "I understand why there's so much focus on our trading relationship with the US but actually, our trading relationship with Europe is arguably even more important, because they're our nearest neighbours and trading partners."
Sir Keir Starmer quickly moved to counter Reeves's comments, describing the US as "incredibly important" to the UK.
Ben Habib hit out at Rachel Reeves's claim that an EU deal is more important than a US deal
GB News / PA
Discussing the remarks on GB News, former co-deputy leader of Reform UK claimed that the Labour Government has not "realised" that the EU is "completely opposed" to what the US is currently doing.
Habib explained: "What Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer haven't appreciated is that the European Union approach to governance and the economy, particularly if you're talking about a trade deal, is diametrically opposed to what the US is now doing.
"The US is ditching the European model. Western countries generally had adopted the European model, but he's going for a completely new model - ditching DEI, enforcing borders, ditching net zero - a model which actually, over time, irrespective of what the markets might be doing at the moment, over time, will strengthen the US economy."
In a warning to Keir Strarmer, Habib stated that if the Prime Minister "doesn't recognise this", many businesses will leave Britain for the US.
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Starmer has moved quickly to counter comments from Reeves suggesting the government prioritises EU trade relations over those with the USPAHabib cautioned: "The US economy is bound to do better over time as a result of the policies being instituted by Donald Trump, and Keir Starmer needs to recognise that if he doesn't adopt the same basic approach, businesses will leave the UK and go to the US.
"People will leave the UK and go to the US, Dubai and lots of people are going to Dubai already in other places. So what we've got to do is wake up and smell the coffee and start doing some of the things that Trump is doing."
Offering a defence for Rachel Reeves, commentator Chris Worrall claimed that he is "confident" that Britain will secure a trade deal with the US, despite the Chancellor's remarks.
Worrall explained: "I think Rachel Reeves has got front and centre of her mind for Britain to get a trade agreement with the US. And when we look at that, that is one of the biggest trading partners. And I think that we can get a bilateral agreement on that.
Habib told GB News that Reeves needs to 'wake up and smell the coffee'
GB News
"Because there's that special relationship when it comes to defence, when it comes to counter-terrorism and particularly when it comes to Europe and military bases, as we've seen with Chagos. So I'm confident that Britain will get a good trade deal there."
Highlighting the UK's relationship with the US, Worrall claimed that the Labour Government have taken the "right approach" when it comes to the Trump administration.
He concluded: "On the whole, I think Britain's been taking the right approach with the Trump administration, and wanting to play ball. But we've got to be mindful of the reason why Trump is doing what he's doing.
"China is exporting unemployment through suppressing wages in their own economy to sell those cheap goods. And there's places like Vietnam, Japan and other places around that that we can engage with as well. And we still need to be mindful of our EU trading partners because they are the closest."
