France’s Prime Minister François Bayrou said on Monday that the European Union had given in to US President Donald Trump’s threats of increased tariffs, slamming the deal agreed to on Sunday as a “dark day.”
“It is a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, brought together to affirm their common values and to defend their common interests, resigns itself to submission,” Bayrou wrote in a post on X.
Under the agreed terms, finalised by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Trump during a meeting in Scotland, the majority of EU exports bound for the American market will be subject to a 15% tariff.
The tariff for US exports headed for the EU market was not immediately clear but the deal is preliminary and needs to be further fleshed out.
“I think it’s great we made a deal today instead of playing games,” Trump said at the end of the meeting. “I think it’s the biggest deal ever made.”
“It’s a big deal. It’s a huge deal,” von der Leyen said. “It will bring stability, it will bring predictability. That’s very important for businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Von der Leyen noted the 15% tariff would be “across-the-board” and “all-inclusive”, blocking the application of other duties.
The trade agreement was also welcomed by Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni.
The EU’s trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič hailed it as a “breakthrough,” preventing a potentially catastrophic trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.
Trade deal slammed in France
But the deal has not been as well received by MPs in France from across the political spectrum.
Benjamin Haddad, the Minister Delegate for European Affairs, welcomed the “temporary stability” the deal represents, but complained that it was “unbalanced.”
“Free trade has now been rejected by the United States, which has opted for economic coercion and complete disregard for WTO rules,” he said in a post on X.
“Let’s be clear: the current state of affairs is unsatisfactory and unsustainable.”
President of the right-wing National Rally Jordan Bardella was more explicit in his condemnation, slamming it as an “agreement of shame.”
“Ursula von der Leyen accepted Europe’s trade surrender, to the detriment of our exporters, farmers and manufacturers,” he complained.
His party colleague and leader of the National Rally in the National Assembly, Marine le Pen, was also critical, slamming the deal as a “political, economic and moral fiasco.”
Meanwhile, politicians on the left were equally critical.
Founder of the France Unbowed (La France Insoumise) party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, said the deal represented a blow to “liberalism” and complained that “everything has been ceded to Trump with the right to change the rules of the game established over 75 years of bilateral relations.”
And French MEP Raphaël Glucksmann said “this losing deal with Trump is the product of a despairing political and moral weakness.”
The end of the story?
Before Trump’s arrival disrupted transatlantic commerce, EU-made products were subject to an average tariff rate of 4.8% upon entering US territory.
Sunday’s deal presumably entails an additional 10% to reach the 15% mark.
EU cars, which are today under a 27.5% tariff, will be brought under the 15% rate.
A “zero-for-zero” scheme will apply to aircraft and related components, semiconductor equipment, critical raw materials and some chemical and agricultural products.
“We will keep working to add more products to this list,” von der Leyen said.
Additionally, she explained, the bloc commits to spending over $250 billion per year on purchasing American liquefied natural gas (LNG), oil and nuclear fuels to replace Russian energy. The total pledge will amount to about $700 billion by the end of Trump’s term.
Asked about what concessions, if any, the US had made in the talks, the Commission chief replied with a general remark about shared prosperity.
“The starting point was an imbalance, a surplus (of goods) on our side and a deficit on the US side. We wanted to rebalance the trade relation, and we wanted to do it in a way that trade goes on between the two of us across the Atlantic,” she said.
“I think it’s going to be great for both parties,” Trump said.
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