Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 28, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 25, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleFrench President Macron leaves Washington with little hope of avoiding U.S. tariffs on EU imports, criticizing Trump's trade strategy.
PORTO, Portugal (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged on Friday that he left Washington after talks this week with President Donald Trump with scant hope that the European Union would avoid U.S. trade tariffs.
Macron said the Trump administration's trade strategy - and particularly its understanding of value-added taxes - was flawed.
Two days after Macron mixed flattery with firmness during his White House meeting with Trump, the U.S. president said his administration would announce a 25% tariff on all imports from the European Union. Trump said the bloc had been created to "screw" the United States.
"I left with very little hope," Macron told reporters in the Portuguese city of Porto.
"There are, I believe, misunderstandings, design problems in the commercial approach proposed by this administration," Macron added. "Central to their reasoning is that our taxes on consumption, in particular the value added tax, are a tariff, which is factually false."
Speaking alongside Macron, Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro reiterated his call for dialogue with Washington, but said: "Europe will have to respond to an increase in tariffs in a similar way."
Montenegro added that he regretted that economies and blocs not targeted by inflationary tariffs will be the ones who benefit from the trade tensions, rather than the United States or European Union.
The European Commission said on Wednesday that it will react "firmly and immediately against unjustified barriers to free and fair trade."
(Reporting by Makini Brice and Elizabeth Pineau; editing by GV De Clercq and Richard Lough)
Macron stated he left Washington with very little hope regarding the U.S. tariffs, indicating a lack of optimism about the discussions.
Macron criticized the Trump administration's trade strategy, particularly its understanding of value-added taxes, calling it flawed.
Montenegro emphasized the need for dialogue with Washington and noted that Europe would have to respond similarly to any increase in tariffs.
The European Commission announced it would react 'firmly and immediately' against any unjustified barriers to free and fair trade.
Montenegro expressed regret that economies not targeted by inflationary tariffs would benefit from the trade tensions, rather than the U.S. or the European Union.
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