Labour 'riding three horses' as it seeks to keep China, US and EU sweet

Riding two horses is hard enough, but diplomats are joking in private that Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are trying to ride three.

- Eleni Courea

At the IMF summit in Washington this week, Reeves sought to position the UK as a beacon of free trade that is open to business - with the EU, US and China.

Riding those three horses is central to the government's strategy for boosting growth and navigating the international stage at a time when old alliances are being upended and the post-cold-war order redrawn.

What Reeves did not address was that the UK was being pulled in opposing directions that may soon force ministers to make choices between Brussels, Washington and Beijing.

Before the chancellor's trade talks today with the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, it emerged that the US was pushing the UK to relax its rules on agricultural imports - the rules that ban chlorine-dipped chicken and hormone-treated beef from being sold in British supermarkets. Washington also wants lower UK tariffs on American cars.

UK officials were blindsided by those reports and are increasingly playing down the prospect of a speedy economic deal with the US. Reeves said on Wednesday she was "not going to rush" into any agreement and ruled out watering down agricultural standards, though ministers were open to slashing tariffs on cars.

Behind the scenes, the erratic and unpredictable nature of Donald Trump's administration is causing frustration inside the UK government and giving weight to arguments that ministers should focus their energies on rebuilding bridges with the EU.