PARIS: French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou has strongly criticised the newly struck trade deal between the European Union and the United States, labelling it a “dark day” and an act of “submission.”
The agreement, finalised on Sunday, has drawn sharp reactions from politicians across France.
“It is a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, united to affirm their values and defend their interests, resorts to submission,“ Bayrou stated in a post on X.
The deal, negotiated by US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, sets a baseline tariff of 15 percent on EU exports to the US.
French President Emmanuel Macron has yet to publicly respond, but opposition leaders have been vocal.
Jordan Bardella of the far-right National Rally called it a “commercial surrender of Europe,“ while Marine Le Pen described it as a “political, economic, and moral fiasco.”
Macron ally Pieyre-Alexandre Anglade criticised the deal as a “signal of weakness,“ urging efforts to reverse its effects.
Meanwhile, Philippe Latombe of Bayrou’s Democratic Movement expressed regret, calling it a “bad deal, except for Trump.”
The Socialist Party and far-left France Unbowed also condemned the agreement, with Jean-Luc Melenchon framing it as a choice between “non-submission to the US Empire and non-alignment.”
French Finance Minister Eric Lombard and Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot will meet with key economic stakeholders on Wednesday to assess the deal’s impact. – AFP
