French President Emmanuel Macron urged a halt to investments in the United States on Thursday, criticizing President Donald Trump's tariffs on Europe and other nations as "brutal and unfounded" and seeking clarity on the matter.
"Future investments, investments announced in the last weeks, should be suspended for a time for as long as the situation with the United States is not clarified," Macron told a meeting of companies also attended by French ministers and Prime Minister Francois Bayrou.
"What would be the message if big European actors invest billions of euros in the U.S. economy at the very moment they are hitting us?" he asked.
His comments followed Trump's self-described "Liberation Day" tariff announcement on Wednesday in which he unveiled a broad swathe of new levies affecting all U.S. trading partners, including a 20% tariff for the European Union.
Macron said no response had been ruled out yet and suggested using the anti-coercion mechanism, responses targeting digital services and looking at financing mechanisms of the U.S. economy.
He said Americans will be "weaker and poorer" after Trump's tariff announcement, which he described as "brutal and unfounded" and would have a "massive impact" on the European economy.
Macron added that the response to the reciprocal tariffs would be "more massive" than its earlier retaliation to the U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs.
He also called on Europe to stand together in terms of their response, warning against any unilateral action.
Europeans "need to remain united and determined in this phase. And I say this also because I know what can happen – the biggest players have a tendency to go it alone, and that's not a good idea," he said.
France, with sectors ranging from aerospace to luxury goods to wine risking taking a hit, has always insisted that such retaliation against tariffs needs to come from the EU and not from individual states.
Macron reaffirmed the French government's position that a "European response" would come in "two stages."
"The first response will take place in mid-April and will address the tariffs already decided, particularly on steel and aluminum," he said.
"The second, more massive response, to the tariffs announced yesterday (Wednesday), will take place at the end of the month after a detailed study, sector by sector, and work with all member states and economic sectors," he said.
