‘Made in Europe’ EU industrial strategy could hit supply chains, UK minister warns

Nick Thomas-Symonds says move could also create unnecessary UK-EU trade barriers and increase costs

A British minister has warned that the EU’s “Made in Europe” industrial strategy could hit supply chains, increase costs and create unnecessary trade barriers between the UK and some members of the bloc.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, the UK minister for EU relations, made the comments as the EU is preparing to publish legislation that would require European-made products to be prioritised in public procurement and consumer schemes.

The proposed legislation is designed to reduce dependence on foreign imports and boost local production in strategic sectors in an uncertain geopolitical environment.

“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,” Thomas-Symonds said at an economic event in Madrid. “That would obviously affect UK-Spain supply chains.”

Thomas-Symonds argued that Britain and the EU were facing the same challenges of raising 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.”

Thomas-Symonds’s intervention comes as Keir Starmer’s government has been looking to improve diplomatic and economic ties with the EU, Britain’s largest trading partner, since the “reset” deal was announced last May.

In recent weeks, Starmer has signalled that the UK may seek sectoral deals which would deepen access to the single market, beyond that agreed with EU leaders in May, by potentially aligning in other areas and keeping pace with EU regulation. Such a move would be likely to face objections from opposition parties.

EU leaders agreed at a summit in Belgium earlier in February to move ahead with a “Buy European” policy, with the aim of securing the continent’s future amid geopolitical volatility.

At the meeting, the leaders broadly agreed on the need to protect certain sectors, with the European Council president, António Costa, naming these as defence, space, clean tech, quantum, artificial intelligence and payment systems.

The EU has long been concerned with Europe’s declining competitiveness, but those worries were intensified after the sudden loss of Russian gas in 2022, which resulted in higher energy costs, made the bloc more vulnerable at a time of declining investment and higher regulation.

The 27 member states have been looking to boost Europe’s competitiveness compared with the US and China at a time of economic uncertainty, following the Trump’s administration’s tariff agenda and China’s export of heavily subsidised goods to the continent.

The draft “Made in Europe” plan includes the EU’s member states as well as members of the European Economic Area – Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein – but not Britain. The EU said, however, that other “trusted partners” could be added in future.

The “Buy European” programme has long been promoted by France, but has faced some criticism by member states including Italy and Germany – whose automakers have global manufacturing operations – who have expressed concerns that the rules could be too narrow.

The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, have said in recent times they would like the EU to go further with its deregulation agenda.

The European Commission is due to publish its Industrial Accelerator Act later this month, which is expected to set targets for European content in a range of strategic products such as solar panels and electric vehicles.