'Securing US trade deal should be No1 priority'

Chancellor warned ahead of crunch talks in Washington

- Katie Harris and David Williamson

BUDDYING up to Brussels could destroy Britain's chances of a trade deal with America, Rachel Reeves was warned yesterday.

The Chancellor is today set to hold crunch talks with her US counterpart in Washington as the Government pushes for an agreement to reduce the impact of Donald Trump's tariffs.

Yesterday she was at the IMF spring meetings — where she had talks with Valdis Dombrovskis, vice president of the European Commission, German finance minister Joerg Kukies and Canadian finance minister Francois-Philippe Champagne.

Senior opposition MPs say Britain's future prosperity relies on a successful outcome of her meeting in America — and “getting too close to the EU” could ruin a US deal.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, a close ally of Mr Trump, told the Daily Express: “We have a president that likes our country.

“Unlike the rest of Europe, we have a pretty balanced pattern of trade with America, whereas they all run big surpluses with America.

“So it’s all do-able, but then she [Ms Reeves] needs to rethink the other side of her life.

“She’s talking about supporting free movement of people under 30 with the EU, she’s talking about a reset with the EU.

“In the last few weeks we’ve sort of harmonised, as it were, standards on foods, veterinary services - we're talking about extending that.

“And the closer you get to the EU, the less flexibility you have to deal with other parts of the world.