BALTIMORE, March 21 (Reuters) - U.S. and British officials kicked off two days of meetings to strengthen trade ties on Monday, underscoring transatlantic cooperation at a time when Western countries are ratcheting up pressure on Russia over its war in Ukraine.

The talks in the port city of Baltimore mark a broad effort to take stock of the $260 billion bilateral trade relationship, while specific disputes will be dealt with separately and formal talks on a free trade agreement remain on ice.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the two allies had resolved disputes over aircraft subsidies and digital services taxes over the past year, and were now working together closely to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for his invasion of Ukraine.

"In the battle between democracy and autocracy, democracies are rising to the moment and the world is clearly choosing the side of peace and security, so it's never been more important for us to work to strengthen our economic ties with our closest allies, like the United Kingdom," Tai told a plenary attended by dozens of U.S. and British executives and trade officials.

Tai said U.S. and British officials would work to identify mutual trade priorities and promote "innovation and inclusive economic growth for citizens on both sides of the Atlantic."

Key U.S. priorities include collaboration on expanding protection of labor rights and the environment, decarbonizing their economies, promoting racial and gender equity, building more resilient supply chains and tapping the "democratizing" benefits of the digital economy, U.S. officials said.

UK Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan told business and labor leaders later that the huge shocks of recent years and weeks, an apparent reference to the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, showed "that resilience and a different way of doing business is required. Protectionism is not the solution."

Trevelyan said Britain was seeking to "forge even closer bonds of trade and investment between us, because we do more business together than any other two countries in the world."