EU ministers aim far higher than British-US trade deal

By Philip Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European Union trade ministers want a more ambitious trade deal than Britain has agreed with the United States, they said on Thursday, adding that such an agreement retaining U.S. tariffs would not be enough to prevent EU countermeasures.

U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer a week ago said they had agreed a limited bilateral trade agreement that leaves in place Trump's 10% tariffs on British exports, while cutting higher tariffs on steel and cars.

Polish Deputy Economy Minister Michal Baronowski, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said the UK deal and a truce with China provided some optimism of a de-escalation.

However, in comments before an EU meeting of trade ministers in Brussels, he said the European Union should not "jump too fast". The bloc, he said, did not need a quick deal and that seemed to be the sentiment of others, such as Japan.

"I don't think that's the level of ambition that Europe would be happy with," he said, referring to the US-UK deal.

"I think we can have a better deal than staying with pretty high tariffs... I would hope that (the EU gets) a better deal than any other deals the U.S. is now negotiating."

Swedish Trade Minister Benjamin Dousa was more forthright.

"If the UK-US deal is what Europe gets, then the U.S. can expect countermeasures from our side," Dousa told reporters. "I would barely call it a trade deal at all."

The EU faces a 25% tariff on U.S. imports of steel, aluminium and cars, as well as "reciprocal" tariffs of 10% on almost all other products, which could rise to 20% if negotiations during a 90-day pause to July 8 fail.

French Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin said reciprocal tariffs were something the EU could not accept, a view echoed by Finland's Ville Tavio.

"No, that's not what I would I would be hoping for... and you have to keep in mind that actually the 10% tariff wouldn't be beneficial for the U.S. economy either," he said.

The European Commission, which coordinates EU trade policy, last week prepared a list of 95 billion euros ($106 billion) of U.S. imports that could face tariffs, but has repeatedly said it would prefer a negotiated solution.

European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said he had spoken on Wednesday with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and agreed to intensify engagement.

($1 = 0.8928 euros)

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Additional reporting by Julia Payne, Bart Meijer and Geert De Clercq; editing by Barbara Lewis)