FRIDAY April 4, 2025 |
By thenewsdesk.ng
French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called for a suspension of investment in the United States until Donald Trump’s “brutal and unfounded” new tariffs against Europe and the rest of the world were clarified.
His comments followed President Trump imposing sweeping new levies on US trading partners, including a 20 percent tariff on imports from the European Union.
“Future investments, investments announced in the last weeks, should be suspended for a time for as long as the situation with the United States is not clarified,” Macron told a meeting of French companies also attended by French ministers and Prime Minister Francois Bayrou.
Macron predicted Americans will be “weaker and poorer” after Trump’s tariff announcement, which he described as “brutal and unfounded” and which would have a “massive impact” on the European economy.
He also called on Europe to stand together in terms of their response, warning against any unilateral action.
Macron reaffirmed the French government’s position that a “European response” would come in “two stages”.
One would come in mid-April, addressing US tariffs already in place on steel and aluminium. The second would be at the end of April and would be a “more massive response, to the tariffs announced,” after a study of the sectors affected and coordination with EU member states.
