PARIS — Senior French officials on Monday criticized the newly signed EU-U.S. trade accord, with Foreign Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin urging a European response in the services sector, and Strategy Commissioner Clément Beaune warning the deal failed to reflect the bloc’s economic strength.
“The good news is that there is an agreement—our companies now have visibility and stability in the transatlantic trade relationship,” said Saint-Martin on France Inter radio. “But this agreement is not balanced, and we will need to keep working.”
Saint-Martin urged the European Commission “to work on support measures” for sectors affected by the accord, which was signed Sunday by U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. It includes 15% tariffs on EU exports to the United States.
He pointed to digital services as a key area in the trade imbalance. “Donald Trump spent months saying he wanted to rebalance a trade relationship that disadvantages the United States, but he was only talking about goods. If we look at services, it’s the opposite. So it’s up to us now to carry out the work of force and rebalancing,” he said.
“The United States decided to use force to impose a new law of the jungle that no longer respects the rules of international trade that we had for decades,” Saint-Martin added.
Beaune, France’s High Commissioner for Strategy and Planning, also took aim at the deal in a separate interview on Franceinfo radio: “This is an unequal and unbalanced agreement.” He warned: “Europe did not wield its strength. We are the world’s leading trading power.”
“When you look at it, the glass is a quarter full and three-quarters empty,” Beaune said.
Prime Minister François Bayrou was even more scathing, posting on X: “It is a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, united to uphold their values and defend their interests, resigns itself to submission.”