French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that the reduction of US tariffs on the EU to 10 percent was a “fragile pause”, and Europe must therefore “mobilise all available levers to protect itself”.
TL;DR
- Macron calls US tariff pause fragile, urges Europe to mobilize all levers to protect itself.
- Europe must show strength and work on necessary counter-measures against US tariffs.
- EU faces 90 days of uncertainty with a baseline 10 percent tariff rate.
- Macron emphasizes negotiating to remove unfair tariffs and avoid market unbalancing.
“With the European Commission, we must show ourselves as strong: Europe must continue to work on all the necessary counter-measures,” Macron said on X after a surprise announcement by US President Donald Trump that he was pausing tariff hikes targeting the European Union.
As part of Trump's universal tariffs, the EU experienced a 20 percent rate, prompting the commission to prepare its response, though Brussels has indicated a preference for avoiding retaliation.
Last week, Trump declared the severe tariffs, causing global markets to become chaotic, and then on Wednesday, he stated that the measures would be paused for nearly all economies for a 90-day period.
The European Union, comprising 27 member states, is now subject to a baseline tariff rate of 10 percent, similar to numerous other economies such as Japan, though this does not include China.
Macron stated that the EU must steer clear of product “flows from third countries”, which might “unbalance our market”.
Macron stated that the European Commission's aim was “simple: to negotiate to remove these unfair tariffs and obtain a balanced agreement, without asymmetries,”, given that this three-month suspension signifies “90 days of uncertainty for all our businesses, on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond.”
“We are right to fight: jobs and the lives of our countries are at stake,” he said.