France rejects trade negotiations with US
France rejects trade negotiations with US

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire says his country won’t engage in free trade talks with the US “with a gun to its head,” urging the Trump administration to revoke its tariffs on the imports of European steel and aluminum.  The prospect of a sweeping trans-Atlantic trade deal is becoming increasingly bleak as European officials […]

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire says his country won’t engage in free trade talks with the US “with a gun to its head,” urging the Trump administration to revoke its tariffs on the imports of European steel and aluminum.

 The prospect of a sweeping trans-Atlantic trade deal is becoming increasingly bleak as European officials voice their growing dissatisfaction with US trade policies. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has categorically rejected the idea of trade talks with the US for as long as Washington keeps its Section 232 tariffs on industrial metals in place.

Le Maire said his country is opposed to opening free trade talks in light of the existing restrictions on bilateral trade. He urged the US to rescind its duties on European steel and aluminum first as the main pre-condition for such talks to commence.

“World trade cannot base itself on the law of the jungle and the unilateral increase of tariffs is the law of the jungle,” Le Maire said at the G20 summit in Argentina.