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British Finance Minister Gordon Brown called on Monday for closer cooperation between Europe and the United States, stressing that the London and Washington alliance over Iraq should carry over into economic and trade issues.
In a speech to the British Chambers of Commerce, Brown said the trade tariffs that "divide" Britain and the United States should be scrapped.
"I believe as (Prime Minister) Tony Blair has said, one of the lessons of the UN debate on Iraq is that Europe and America should recognize that we do better as partners not rivals," Brown said.
He said that "Europe and the US account between us for 70 percent of the world's output ...so that we must strengthen not weaken our links and deepen and widen the transatlantic alliance by removing the remaining industrial tariffs."
Brown said that "I believe we must create strong economic and political ties so together in these dangerous post-Cold War years we can work together in pursuit of peace and prosperity."
"We should recognize that when Europe and America are at odds with each other everyone loses," he added.
Last year, US President George W. Bush's administration angered much of the world by slapping tariffs on steel imports in a bid to protect its own industry from global competition.
Since then, the relationship between the US and countries like France and Germany has worsened after they, unlike Britain, refused to back a US-led war on Iraq.
However, the British government recently raised renewed concerns with the US over its imposition of tariffs on steel imports.
(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2003)
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