Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 30, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleMacron criticizes tariffs as 'blackmail', calls for WTO reform, and warns against trade wars amid EU-US negotiations.
(Reuters) -French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that tariffs levied by powerful countries were often a form of "blackmail" rather than instruments to rebalance trade.
His comments during a speech at the International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville, Spain, came with the European Union negotiating a trade deal with the United States ahead of a July 9 deadline, though he did not specifically refer to the United States or U.S. President Donald Trump.
"We need to restore freedom and equity to international trade, much more than barriers and tariffs, which are devised by the strongest, and which are often used as instruments of blackmail, not at all as instruments of rebalancing," Macron said.
He also urged support - and a rethinking - of the World Trade Organization to bring it in line with goals to fight inequality and climate change.
"Bringing back a trade war and tariffs at this moment in the life of the planet is an aberration, especially when I see the tariffs that are being imposed on countries that are just beginning their economic takeoff," Macron said.
Trump unveiled sweeping global tariffs in April in which he said countries would face taxes on imports into the United States ranging from 10-50%, though he later reversed course and mostly lowered them for 90 days.
The United Nations trade agency had said the tariffs could have a catastrophic impact on developing countries, with some of the world's least developed, such as Lesotho, Cambodia, Laos, Madagascar and Myanmar, facing some of the highest levies.
Macron, a vocal critic of Washington's tariff campaign, has also said it is an aberration to ask Europeans to spend more on defence while launching a trade war.
(Reporting by Makini Brice; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Macron stated that tariffs imposed by powerful countries are often a form of 'blackmail' rather than tools for rebalancing trade.
He urged for support and a rethinking of the World Trade Organization to align it with goals to combat inequality and climate change.
The United Nations trade agency warned that tariffs could have catastrophic effects on developing nations, particularly the least developed ones.
He described the resurgence of trade wars and tariffs as an aberration, especially in light of global challenges.
Trump had previously unveiled sweeping global tariffs, imposing taxes on imports ranging from 10-50%, though he later reversed many of these decisions.
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