PARIS (Reuters) – France expects tariffs to be announced later on Wednesday from U.S President Donald Trump on French and European products to be in the range of 20-25%, leading to “major economic disorder”, said government spokeswoman Sophie Primas on Wednesday.
“They risk being pretty powerful. People are speaking of tariffs between 20 and 25 percent,” Primas told reporters.
“This will obviously lead to major economic disorder on the products impacted, not only in Europe but also in the United States,” she added.
Trump was expected to impose sweeping new tariffs on global trading partners on Wednesday, upending decades of rules-based trade, risking cost increases and likely drawing retaliation from all sides.
France and the broader European Union (EU) are planning their response. French industry minister Marc Ferracci said earlier on Wednesday that Europe would respond in a “proportionate manner”.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau, Sudip Kar-Gupta and Gianluca do Nostro; Editing by Peter Graff)
