Trump's White House return is already pushing Europe and the UK closer together

BRUSSELS, Belgium ꟷ President-elect Donald Trump has not yet re-entered the White House, but the U.K. and neighboring European Union are already working closer together to protect themselves against potential trade and defense confrontations with the incoming U.S. leader.

U.K. Chancellor Rachel Reeves travelled to Brussels on Monday to convene with her EU counterparts in the first such encounter since Britain left the European Union in 2020. Her host, Eurogroup President Paschal Donohoe, said he hoped this would be the first of “many” meetings.

“There was a broadly shared sense that, in a world of turmoil, we continue to have shared interests and values,” one EU official, who did not want to be named due to the delicate nature of the conversations, told CNBC about the meeting with the U.K.’s chancellor.

The same official added that these shared values concern Ukraine, China and the U.S.

Reeves and her counterparts did not share precise details about the Brussels conversations, but mentioned ahead of her meetings that there are three areas where Britain and the EU can do more together: support for Ukraine, championing free trade and strengthening bilateral economic partnerships.

The outright progress of these conversations remains to be seen, but a couple of meetings have already been added to the diaries to tackle these themes.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is carrying out his own liaisons with the EU in the short term, set to host European Council President Antonio Costa this Thursday and expected to attend a meeting of EU heads of state in early 2025.

A senior EU diplomat, who also did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the talks, told CNBC that the bloc could benefit from being closer to the U.K. because of Britain’s historical “special relationship” with the United States. This thinking comes against the background of the U.S. president-elect’s comments on potentially imposing tariffs on European nations and reducing Washington’s support for Ukraine. Trump previously told NCB’s Meet the Press that he would “probably” cut back such aid.

Ignacio García Bercero, a non-resident fellow for the Bruegel think tank and former chief negotiator for the EU in trade talks with the United States, said that the EU needs to consider its relationship with the U.K. when dealing with potentially more protectionism from the U.S.

“It would also be important, strategically, that the U.K. and the European Union have a discussion about these issues. We will be sure that when we approach the United States, we do it in a manner which is coherent and which actually doesn’t create problems [in resetting relations with the U.K.],” he said.

The U.K. and the EU have faced tumultuous years in the aftermath of the Brexit vote, with complex negotiations hurting their ties. The new Labour government, which took over in July after 14 years of rival Conservative rule, wants to rebuild trust and put an end to the recent confrontation.

“I did not come here today to start a negotiation or to lay down a set of demands those conversations about the reset and those negotiations will begin in the new year, but what I was aiming to do today was to begin to rebuild those bonds of trust that have been fractured in the last few years,” Chancellor Reeves said in Brussels after her meeting.

At the same time, she made it clear that she did not target negotiations to rejoin the EU or to change Britain’s exit agreements.