British finance minister sees strong US-UK relationship no matter who wins White House

By David Lawder and David Milliken

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -British finance minister Rachel Reeves told Reuters on Friday that the U.S.-Britain relationship will remain strong no matter whether Republican former President Donald Trump or Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris wins the Nov. 5 U.S. election.

"It's up to the American people to decide who to have as president, and we will work with whoever the U.S. people return," Reeves said in an interview on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings in Washington.

She said that the UK government has worked with Trump in the past and has worked closely with Harris as part of the President Joe Biden's administration over the past few years.

"So, we're confident that that strong relationship between our two countries will continue whoever is voted in in a week and a half's time," Reeves said.

Asked about the mood surrounding the U.S. election at the IMF and World Bank meetings during her first visit as Britain's finance minister, she said that officials were focused on policies to relieve cost-of-living pressures for people.

Reeves said that while the global economy has been resilient and had achieved a "soft landing" with lower inflation and continued economic growth, there was a "recognition that for a lot of people, the cost-of-living crisis, even though inflation has come down, is still very real with higher prices - whether that's for energy or food prices - locked in."

Late in Trump's presidency, the U.S. and Britain launched negotiations towards a free trade deal, long a post-Brexit goal for Britain, but the talks ground to a halt around the time of the 2020 election, which brought Biden and Harris to power.

Biden has not pursued tariff-reducing trade agreements, but his administration did reach a deal in 2022 with Britain to end a trade dispute over U.S. steel tariffs.

Asked whether she saw a possibility of returning to free trade talks with the U.S., Reeves said: "I'm not going to speculate on that, but the U.S. is our number one export market, an incredibly important trade partner for the UK."

She added that defense and security cooperation, bilaterally and in the Five Eyes group that also includes Canada, Australia and New Zealand, was "incredibly important" to both the U.S. and Britain.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Paul Simao)