France Pans US Trade Policy as ’Law of Jungle’

Le Maire emphasized on Saturday that the EU will not be negotiating a free trade agreement with Washington until the US withdraws its steel and aluminum tariffs.

"World trade cannot base itself on the law of the jungle and the unilateral increase of tariffs is the law of the jungle," Mr Le Maire told AFP news agency.

"The law of the jungle, the law of the fittest, this cannot be the future of global trade relations.

"The law of the jungle will only turn out losers, it will weaken growth, threaten the most fragile countries and have disastrous political consequences," Mr Le Maire said.

He added that a trade war was now a reality, and that the EU could not consider negotiating a free trade deal with the US without America first withdrawing its tariffs on steel and aluminum.

"We are all, particularly us European countries, worried about this trade war that was launched a few weeks ago," Le Maire said.

Le Maire's remarks came shortly after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he will push China and the EU to agree on a more “balanced” relationship on trade.

US President Donald Trump imposed duties of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum in March.

In retaliation, the EU slapped tariffs on classic American goods, such as tobacco and motorcycles, prompting Trump to suggest hefty levies on European goods, notably cars, could be on the way.

The strained ties between Washington and the EU went into a spiral when the US president called the bloc “a foe” in an interview aired last week.  

"I think we have a lot of foes," Trump told CBS News in an interview segment that aired Sunday on "Face the Nation." "I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now you wouldn't think of the European Union, but they're a foe."