Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on March 31, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
France seeks to prevent a trade war with the U.S. but is prepared to respond if tariffs proceed, according to trade minister Laurent Saint-Martin.
PARIS (Reuters) - France still hopes Europe will avoid a trade war with the United States but it would reply with reciprocal measures if tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump went ahead on Wednesday, said commerce and trade minister Laurent Saint-Martin.
"Europe will never be united and strong if it allows itself to be pushed around in a trade war it didn't want. However, it must always bring a positive agenda to the table," he said in an interview on RTL radio on Monday.
Saint-Martin also said France is planning talks with the U.S. Embassy in Paris to voice opposition against Trump's order to French companies to comply with its diversity ban.
(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
The main topic is France's stance on potential trade war with the U.S. and its readiness to respond to U.S. tariffs.
France may implement reciprocal measures if U.S. tariffs are imposed.
Laurent Saint-Martin is France's commerce and trade minister.
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