French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot believes that his country and the European Union are ready to respond if US President Donald Trump imposes tariffs on European goods, Barrot said in an interview with the TF1 television channel. “This is not a surprise.
Donald Trump already did it in 2018, and we responded then. This time we will respond again,” the French Foreign Minister said. Asked what types of products Europe might respond to, the minister said the European Commission should determine the areas for which the EU would take appropriate measures. And the European Commission, he said, has assured EU countries that it “will be ready” to apply such measures.
“The moment has come,” Baron added.
“There should be no hesitation when it comes to defending our interests.”“And I have already said that no one is interested in entering into a trade conflict with the European Union,” the French Foreign Minister emphasized. Even before taking office, Trump announced, and later confirmed, that he would impose tariffs on EU countries if they did not increase their purchases of American oil and gas.
In his opinion, the European Union must make up for its huge deficit in trade relations with the United States with large-scale purchases of oil and gas, otherwise the EU faces widespread tariffs. Earlier, Trump postponed the imposition of 25% tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada for 1 month.
And the additional 10% tariffs imposed on goods imported from China came into force on February 4. China's retaliatory tariffs on American goods went into effect on February 10.
