US tariffs on the EU: French government threatens a "proportionate response"

Laurent Saint-Martin, Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade, put on the table the possibility of a "proportionate response" following Donald Trump's threats to impose 30% customs duties on European Union products on August 1st, this Saturday, July 12th.

"The French position is clear: a fair agreement or a proportionate response (goods, services, anti-coercion)," he wrote on X. To allow for the conditions of an agreement, a meeting will be held in Brussels this Monday, July 14.

"I will be working to support the Commission in its negotiations with the United States until August 1," he said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned on X that if the announcement were to go ahead, it would "disrupt vital transatlantic supply chains."

For Benjamin Haddad, Minister Delegate for Europe, "serious negotiations are conducted by establishing a balance of power."

The countermeasures that the European Commission must prepare must be based on "taxes on American products" and on "the activation of the anti-coercion instrument that will allow us to expand to services, particularly digital," he emphasizes.