Macron says Europe not feared enough in trade deal with US
3 Min Read
The French president believes the EU could still seek "further concessions" as talks continue and stressed the need for "tireless work" to restore trade balance.
-
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to the army leaders at the Hotel le Brienne on July 13, 2025, ahead of the Bastille Day parade in Paris. (AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron criticized the recent EU-US trade deal, saying Europe has not been assertive enough to secure better terms.
Speaking at a ministers’ meeting on Wednesday, Macron remarked, "To be free, we must inspire fear. We have not been feared enough. France has always taken a firm and demanding position. It will continue to do so. This is not the end of the story, and we will not stop there."
He suggested that the EU could still negotiate “further concessions” during the ongoing discussions to formalize the agreement and emphasized the need for "tireless work to restore balance in our trade, particularly in the services sector."
At the same time, Macron acknowledged the agreement’s benefits, noting that an "advantage of the agreement is that it ensures transparency and predictability in the short term" and "protects the interests of France and Europe in important export sectors such as aircraft manufacturing."
Europe slams Trump trade deal as humiliating concession
A newly sealed trade agreement between the United States and the European Union has triggered a wave of political outrage across Europe, even as senior US officials celebrate it as a monumental triumph for US President Donald Trump. Critics across the continent are denouncing the accord as a humiliating surrender of European economic sovereignty.
The deal, finalized Sunday during high-level talks between Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, imposes a sweeping 15% tariff on the majority of EU exports to the US. In return, the EU committed to injecting $600 billion into the US economy and importing $750 billion worth of American energy over the next three years.
There are no reciprocal obligations from Washington, no matching tariff reductions or economic investments. This lopsided arrangement has ignited a political firestorm across Europe, where many see it as an unprecedented geopolitical capitulation.
White House Advisor Sebastian Gorka was blunt in his characterization: “Even for somebody like me who has known the president for a decade now, it is hard to believe that the whole European Union bent at the knee of America First and said: ‘You got us, President Trump.’”
Calling it a “geopolitical earthquake", Gorka declared that Trump had reshaped the global order through sheer force of will. “If you don’t understand that President Trump is engineering tectonic shifts in geopolitics… You are just an imbecile,” he said in a Newsmax interview.
