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Earlier this week, Rachel Reeves and her fellow ministers rolled out the Downing Street red carpet for two of Brussels’ most senior finance chiefs: Valdis Dombrovskis, the economy commissioner, and Maroš Šefčovič, the trade negotiator.

The meeting was supposed to plot the path ahead for Britain and the EU to deepen their trade and investment ties – but somebody forgot to send the memo to Stéphane Séjourné, the bloc’s industry tsar.

On Monday, the Frenchman splashed an opinion piece across several European newspapers, endorsed by more than 1,000 corporate executives, with a message that set alarm bells ringing in London.

It was time, Séjourné said, for a “Made in Europe” policy: European public procurement contracts and European supply chains should predominantly be the preserve of European businesses.

“The Chinese have ‘made in China’, the Americans have ‘buy American’ and most other economic powers have similar programs that prioritise their own strategic strengths. So why not us?” he writes.

“As economic and political leaders, we must collectively do what we have never dared to do before – out of fear, ideology or habit. We must establish, once and for all, a genuine European preference in our most strategic sectors.”

Séjourné’s main vehicle is a proposed new EU law called the Industrial Accelerator Act, which his team are preparing to release later this month.

Leaked drafts suggest that in key EU industries or sectors, which are yet to be specified, European businesses must contribute to at least 70pc of any product’s or project’s supply chain.

Foreign investment would be limited to 49pc of a company’s or project’s financing.

For British businesses involved in making cars, medicines, chemicals or almost any other factory product, the new rules could wreak havoc upon their trade with Europe. Billions of pounds could be at stake.

“The UK is not the target of the economic security measures the EU is proposing, but we would suffer significant collateral damage,” says William Bain, head of trade policy at the British Chambers of Commerce.

“Whitehall is waking up to this and sees it as a massive issue. For us, this is the number one priority in terms of 2026 relations with European policymakers and businesses.”

On social media, campaigners have been circulating reference charts of European alternatives to popular American brands. Rather than use Facebook or Instagram, they say, try Spond or Mastodon.

Switch from WhatsApp to Threema, from Netflix to Viaplay, from Slack to Whereby. Book your trips on TUI, buy H&M not Levi’s, drink Red Bull instead of Coke.

There are “buy European” apps, allowing punters to use their phones to scan barcodes and ensure they’re purchasing patriotically.

The French government has joined the trend. Last week, it sent an official missive instructing bureaucrats to do their videoconferencing on the French platform Visio rather than American sites such as Zoom or Teams.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/02/06/europe-threat-shun-british-goods-starmer-embraces-brussels/