French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Monday criticized the European Union’s newly negotiated trade deal with the United States, calling it a “black day” for Europe and accusing the bloc of bowing to American pressure.
“It is a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, united in their values and in the defense of their interests, resigns itself to submission,” Bayrou wrote on the social network X, referring to the deal that imposes a 15 percent tariff on European imports to the United States.
The unusually harsh language underscored growing unease in Paris over what many see as an unbalanced deal designed to prevent a full-blown transatlantic trade war.
Several French ministers expressed widespread disappointment with the deal, including European Affairs Minister Benjamin Haddad, who said earlier on Monday that the EU must “urgently” prepare to launch its “bazooka” anti-coercion tool – the bloc’s most powerful trade weapon – which could restrict access for US services to EU markets.
Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin also spoke on France Inter radio on Monday, stressing that France “reserves the right to respond” if trade asymmetries persist.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who had advocated a tougher line ahead of the talks, has remained remarkably silent so far.
The EU-US deal struck on Sunday would impose a “direct tariff of 15%” on the EU on “cars and everything else,” the US president said.
Criticism from Macron’s far-right opponents was swift and loud. Right-wing leader Marine Le Pen denounced “the clear capitulation of French industry and our energy and military sovereignty.”
Several far-left MPs also called the deal a “disgrace”, with their leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon adding that “everything has been given in to Trump”.
Maximilian Henning contributed to the preparation of this material.
Hungary’s Orban mocks ‘featherweight’ von der Leyen over EU-US trade deal
“It wasn’t a deal President Donald Trump made with Ursula von der Leyen – it was Trump eating von der Leyen for breakfast.”
(vibration)
Source: Source