Le Pen depicts US-EU trade agreement as ‘fiasco’
(MENAFN) French opposition leader Marine Le Pen has strongly criticized the recently signed EU-US trade agreement, calling it a “fiasco” that compromises the European Union’s economic and political independence.
The deal, finalized on Sunday by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and U.S. President Donald Trump, prevented a full-scale trade war between the two sides. Under the agreement, the EU has agreed to increase its imports of American energy and military goods, while the U.S. reduced its previously threatened 30% tariff to a flat 15% on most EU exports.
Le Pen, a prominent figure in France’s National Rally party and a leading opposition voice in the National Assembly, denounced the agreement as “a political, economic, and moral failure.” She argued that the EU, representing 27 member states, secured worse terms than the UK, which previously accepted a 10% tariff deal widely criticized at the time.
She accused Brussels of conceding too much on American gas and arms exports—terms she said no patriotic French government would have accepted. “This is a total surrender of French industrial, energy, and military sovereignty,” Le Pen stated.
Further criticizing the deal, Le Pen claimed it favors Germany’s automotive industry at the expense of French agriculture. She pointed to provisions that would open the EU’s single market more broadly to U.S. agricultural products in exchange for reduced tariffs on German car exports.
“This form of globalization, which ignores and erodes national sovereignty, is outdated,” she said, urging officials to acknowledge what she called a “painful failure” instead of asking the French people—who she claimed would bear the brunt of the deal—to celebrate it.
Le Pen’s condemnation was echoed by former Belgian Prime Minister and current MEP Guy Verhofstadt, who labeled the deal “scandalous” and “a disaster” for Europe, criticizing its lack of meaningful concessions from the U.S.
In contrast, President Trump hailed the agreement as “probably the biggest deal ever” in trade, while von der Leyen defended it as the most favorable outcome possible under the circumstances, calling the 15% tariff a necessary compromise to provide economic stability.
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