Imposing tariffs on the bloc will cause inflation in the US, the French president has warned
US President Donald Trump should focus on containing China, not the EU, which is an American ally, French President Emmanuel Macron has said. He vowed, however, to go toe-to-toe with Washington if it decides to impose tariffs on goods from the bloc.
In early February, Trump said he would “absolutely” slap tariffs on the EU because the US is being “treated so badly” by the bloc. “They do not take our cars, they do not take our farm products, essentially, they do not take almost anything. And we have a tremendous deficit with the EU,” he explained.
In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Macron addressed Trump, saying: “Is the EU your first problem? No, I do not think so. Your first problem is China. So you should focus on the first problem.”
“Europe is an ally for you. If you want Europe to be engaged on more investment, and security, and defense, if you want Europe to develop, which is I think the interest of the US, you should not hurt the European economies by threatening it with tariffs.”
According to the French president, waging a trade war against the EU should not be among Washington’s top priorities, given the other challenges faced by the international community. “We have to fix Ukraine. We have a situation in the Middle East. We have this competition between the US and China,” he said.
The economic integration between the US and EU is “super high,” so “if you put tariffs on a lot of sectors it will increase the costs and create inflation in the US. Is it what your people want? I am not so sure,” Macron added.
Asked if he is ready to go toe-to-toe with Trump on tariffs, he said: “I already did so and I will do it again. I think we should be ready to, obviously, be in the room and react.”
On Sunday, Trump stated that he would announce new 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the US on Monday that would affect “everybody.”
Earlier this month, he imposed 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico and 10% on those from China, citing concerns over illegal immigration and drug trafficking. However, Trump later decided to postpone the introduction of tariffs on Canada and Mexico for 30 days in return for promises by both governments to strengthen border security.
