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French President Emmanuel Macron has called on the EU Commission to rebalance EU’s trade relationship with the US, particularly in the services sector, just days after a deal was reached between EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump.
“To be free, one must be feared. We haven’t been feared enough,” Macron said during a meeting of the French council of ministers, French media reported, calling for “relentless efforts to rebalance trade, particularly in the services sector.”
“This is not the end of the story, and we will not stop here,” the French president added, as the EU Commission is still negotiating exemptions to the 15% US tariffs on EU imports agreed on 27 July.
Since the beginning of the tariff war with the US, France has consistently favoured a hardline approach, brandishing the threat of the anti-coercion instrument — an EU tool that allows foreign companies to be denied access to public procurement, licenses, or intellectual property rights.
The tool would enable the EU to target US services, where the bloc runs a trade deficit with the US, unlike in goods.
Countermeasures
The EU has also adopted a package of countermeasures worth €95 billion targeting US products, but these were suspended until 4 August. The Commission is now awaiting a US executive order confirming that a 15% blanket tariff will apply to imports of EU goods as of 1 August.
“Of course the measures are there,” an EU official said, adding: “They have been approved by the member states. So if there was a need, we could always bring them back on Tuesday [4 August]. But that is not the assumption from which we start this next phase in transatlantic relations.”
The French President acknowledged that negotiations with the US had been difficult, and welcomed exemptions secured for the aerospace sector, considered strategic for Paris. France also hopes that the Commission will manage to negotiate an exemption for wine and spirits, which represent France’s leading export market to the US.
“We are continuing to negotiate with the Americans so that, if possible, spirits, perhaps wine, and other sectors can be exempted. It’s a work in progress,” French Economy Minister Éric Lombard told French radio on Wednesday.
On top of aircraft, Von der Leyen on Sunday announced that zero-for-zero tariffs will apply to certain chemicals, generic drugs, semiconductor-making equipment, some agricultural products (but with the exclusion of all sensitive products like beef, rice, ethanol, sugar or poultry), some natural resources and critical raw materials.