French PM
slams EU-US trade deal as ‘submission’ to Trump
François
Bayrou is leading a chorus of fierce criticism against the agreement.
"It is
a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, united to assert their values and
defend their interests, resigns itself to submission," Bayrou wrote on X.
|
July 28,
2025 11:53 am CET
By Giorgio
Leali
PARIS — Top
French officials are furious about the trade deal reached Sunday between the
United States and the European Union.
Prime
Minister François Bayrou on Monday led a chorus of searing criticism against
the agreement from across the French political spectrum, many of whom urged
Brussels to wield the threat of retaliation to obtain better terms.
“It is a
dark day when an alliance of free peoples, united to assert their values and
defend their interests, resigns itself to submission,” Bayrou wrote on X.
Key figures
from Bayrou's government argued that — while it was good to obtain a measure of
stability by locking in 15 percent tariffs on most EU imports to fend off the
threat of looming 30 percent duties set to take effect on Aug. 1 — European
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and her negotiating team failed to
properly leverage the EU's massive single market and kowtowed to U.S. President
Donald Trump.
“Let’s be
clear: The current situation is unsatisfactory and cannot be sustained,” Europe
Minister Benjamin Haddad said on X.
Trade
Minister Laurent Saint-Martin told FranceInter radio on Monday that he did not
want Paris “to settle with what happened yesterday because that would be
accepting that Europe is not an economic power.”
“This deal
is not balanced so we will have to keep working,” he said.
Both Haddad
and Saint-Martin said Brussels must wield the threat of the Anti-Coercion
Instrument, which would allow the EU to restrict access for U.S. companies to
public procurement, foreign direct investment and financial markets in the EU,
to obtain better terms, though it’s unclear what exactly can be done to tweak a
deal already struck at the highest levels.
French
President Emmanuel Macron has been, as of Monday morning, noticeably silent.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni,
meanwhile, were quick to welcome the deal.
French
far-right leader Marine Le Pen slammed the agreement as a “political, economic
and moral fiasco” that showed national sovereignty is being crushed “under the
weight of Brussels bureaucracy.”
While the
longtime Euroskeptic figurehead’s comments were unsurprising, their reception
in some circles is.
“I hate to
say it, but she’s right,” said a French economy ministry official, who was
granted anonymity to speak freely.
Alexandre
Léchenet contributed to this report.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário