French PM slams EU ‘submission’ to US in trade deal
French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou has condemned the new trade deal between Washington and Brussels, accusing the EU of yielding to US coercion.
On Sunday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen finalized a controversial agreement with President Donald Trump, averting looming 30% tariffs from the US in exchange for a flat 15% levy on most goods. In return, the EU agreed to open its markets to American exports and impose no tariffs on them.
“Von der Leyen-Trump Agreement: It is a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, gathered to affirm their values and defend their interests, resolves to submit,” Bayrou wrote on X on Monday.
Trump announced on Sunday that the EU will also purchase $750 billion worth of US energy exports. The bloc will also buy “hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment,” he claimed, and invest $600 billion into the American economy. Von der Leyen told the media on Sunday that the timeline for these investments and purchases aligns with the remaining three years of the US president’s term.
The deal has also drawn pushback from other French officials.
European Affairs Minister Benjamin Haddad has criticized the “unbalanced” deal, warning that the stability it brings is “temporary.” The EU should activate its so-called Anti-Coercion Instrument to address the imbalance in trade with the US, he said on X on Monday.
French right-wing politician Marine Le Pen has slammed the agreement as a “political, economic, and moral fiasco.” The deal’s unfair terms amount to “an outright surrender for French industry and for our energy and military sovereignty,” she wrote on X.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a speech on Monday that the trade pact represents a “very hard blow” for European economic development, “clearly leading to further deindustrialization of Europe and capital flight from the continent into the US.”
