The European Union is considering postponing the upcoming trade talks with the United States, an eu official said Thursday. Separately, Britain said it would join a regional free-trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico, as hopes for a trade deal with the United Kingdom faded in the near future.

Brussels (Reuters) - France has asked the European Commission to postpone trade talks with the US, called the "Trade and Technology Conference", which was scheduled to be held in Pittsburgh on September 29, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing EU diplomats.

The EU had sought to use the Pittsburgh meeting to hammer out a framework for cooperation with the United States on vetting hostile foreign investment and export controls, as well as to discuss key supply chain gaps such as artificial intelligence and chips. The meeting was seen as a sign that bilateral trade relations could move from dispute to reconciliation.

The European Union has yet to finalize whether to postpone trade talks with the United States. Eu officials will hold discussions on Monday.

The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia on Thursday announced the establishment of a new trilateral security partnership. Australia is to build nuclear submarines in partnership with the US and UK and has torn up a multi-billion dollar submarine order with a French naval group. The move provoked outrage in France and the European Union said it supported the French position.

Thierry Breton, the EU's internal market commissioner, said Thursday that the EU's frustration with the United States was not limited to the submarine breach, as transatlantic relations have been plagued by problems over the past few years. He said a series of surprising decisions by Washington in recent months had reinforced the view among many European politicians and ordinary people that the transatlantic relationship was already frayed.

Meanwhile, the brexit UK, unable to sign a bilateral free trade agreement with the US in the near future, is considering joining the US-Canada Mexico Free Trade Agreement (USMCA) instead.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with U.S. President Joe Biden Thursday. "We're going to talk about some trade issues, and we're going to work things out," Biden told reporters. But Mr. Johnson has said he does not expect Britain to finalize a free trade deal with the United States before the 2024 parliamentary elections.

Britain has signed trade agreements with Canada and Mexico in an attempt to boost trade ties with the United States by joining the USMCA, the Financial Times reported on May 21. According to the report, the Biden administration has said that the priority of its current policy is the domestic economy, and negotiating trade agreements is not a priority. The report quoted British trade experts as saying that it is unrealistic for the UK to try to join the USMCA, and even if it could join, it would be expensive.