UK minister warns 'made in Europe' plan could hit supply chains

By Victoria Waldersee

MADRID, Feb 19 (Reuters) - A British minister warned on Thursday that the European Union's "made in Europe" plan could impact supply chains and create unnecessary trade barriers between London and some EU member countries.

The comments from Nick Thomas-Symonds, Britain's minister for EU relations, come as the European Commission prepares to publish a law next week requiring a minimum share of products backed by public money in strategic sectors be manufactured within Europe.

"My concern is that if you had very strict preference requirements, you would risk impacting our deeply integrated supply chains that would create unnecessary barriers to trade in key UK-EU industries and increase costs," he said at an economic event in Madrid. "That would obviously affect UK-Spain supply chains."

Arguing that Britain and the EU share the same challenge to boost competitiveness and productivity, he said: "The UK is the fourth largest investor in Spain. We are not going to meet those challenges by causing unnecessary economic damage to each other."

Six years after formally exiting the EU, Britain - under Prime Minister Keir Starmer - is working to improve diplomatic and economic ties with the bloc, its largest trading partner.

Starmer has hinted at further alignment with the EU's single market, which allows goods, services, capital and people to move freely across member states.

The draft EU "made in Europe" plan defines Europe as the European Economic Area - the 27 EU member states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway, but not Britain. It says, however, that other "trusted partners" could be added in future.

The initiative forms part of an EU drive to bolster domestic industries and reduce reliance on foreign suppliers in areas such as clean energy and advanced manufacturing in the face of competition from China and U.S.-driven uncertainty over tariffs.