LONDON, Feb 3, (AP): British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Sunday that he would seek a strong trade relationship with the US after President Donald Trump suggested he would slap Europe with tariffs after he hit America's biggest trading partners - Canada, Mexico and China - with import taxes. Starmer spoke to reporters while hosting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at his country estate on the eve of a mission to improve relations with the European Union.

"In the discussions that I have had with President Trump, that is what we have centered on, a strong trading relationship," he said. "So it is very early days.” Canada and Mexico ordered retaliatory tariffs in response to Trump's announcement that the US on Tuesday will stick a 25% levy on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% on goods from China.

Trump said he "absolutely” plans to impose tariffs on the EU. The UK left the EU in 2020, following a referendum in 2016. Trump, who supported the Leave side in the Brexit vote, has not yet said whether he plans to target the UKwith tariffs. The tit-for-tat tariffs have triggered fears of a global trade war. "Tariff increases really right across the world can have a really damaging impact on global growth and trade, so I don’t think it’s what anybody wants to see,” British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC.

Starmer is heading to Belgium to meet with EU chiefs Monday, where the UK leader is aiming for a relationship "reset”. While ruling out rejoining the EU. trade bloc five years after Brexit, Starmer said he wants to forge a closer relationship on defense, energy and trade. "I think that is certainly in the UK’s best interest, I do believe it’s in the E.U.’s best interest, and already I hope that in the last seven months there’s been a manifest difference in approach, tone and relationship,” he said. Starmer hosted Scholz at Chequers, the prime minister's country residence in Buckinghamshire 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of London, where the two leaders discussed Ukraine and the Middle East, according to a Starmer spokesperson.