The French president, Emmanuel Macron, considers that the tariff agreement with the United States illustrates that the European Union (EU) “is not feared enough” in the international sphere because “it is not assumed as a power” and, although it accepts that the situation was difficult, it still hopes that there may be a re -ququilibrium, especially in the service sector.
In statements that were leaked to the press during the Council of Ministers held on Wednesday, Macron regretted that “Europe is not yet assumed sufficiently as a power.”
“To be free you have to be feared. And we have not been feared sufficiently,” he added when commenting on the commitment achieved on Scheme in Scotland among the US president, Donald Trump, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, which generally establishes a 15% tariff for European products that enter the US market.
He also pointed out that “France has always maintained a position of firmness and demand” and that “will continue to do so.”
The Chief of the French State was convinced that the situation is not immovable because not everything is closed – “it is not the end of history” – and that the EU can make progress.
Specifically, he pointed to obtaining “new exemptions” in the negotiations that are being carried out to formalize Sunday’s commitment, which among other things already established that the exchanges of airplanes and aeronautical components will not be taxed by any tariff, as has been happening by virtue of a transatlantic agreement since 1979.
That is why he insisted that we have to work for the “rebalancing of exchanges, particularly in services.”
An issue that the French Minister of Foreign Trade had already referred on Monday, Laurent Saint Martin, who had recalled that, contrary to what happens in the trade of goods, where the EU has a surplus globally in its relationship with the United States, in services it is the opposite, and that above all because the US digital giants dominate that activity.
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French Minister of Economy contradicts what was said by Macron
Beyond the dissatisfaction with the content of the covenant between Trump and von der Leyen, Macron admitted that the negotiation had been carried out in “difficult conditions” and that this agreement offers “visibility and predictability in the short term” so that it guarantees “the French and European interests” in important export sectors such as aeronautics.
In any case, he stressed that “no concession” can be made in the field of agriculture or the “regulatory autonomy” of the EU can be questioned in terms of health and environmental norms.
Hours before the words of the Head of the State, the French Minister of Economy, Eric Lombard, had refused to qualify the Sunday pact, in an interview with the France Info station: “In no case. It has been a very difficult negotiation.”
Lombard recalled the strong weight that the United States has in French exports, since there are 8% of the total, and noted that 15% of tariffs is what has been paid for the entry of European products in the United States in recent months, since Trump triggered the commercial war, and that has not prevented companies from continuing to work.
The minister insisted that it continues to be negotiated so that, beyond aeronautics, other sectors are exempt from tariffs, in particular that of liquors and wines, which have great importance for France.
For the French Minister, the agreement accepted by the European Commission “corresponds to the mandate that had been given” by the Member States.
“We knew,” he argued, “we were in an asymmetric war”, “we have had to assume a commitment” that is a consequence of “an aggression” by the United States and in that context “it is the best possible commitment.”
With EFE information
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