We'll defend our interests 'with an iron will': French FM Barrot on Trump's re-election

Talking Europe

In an exclusive interview, FRANCE 24 and Radio France International sit down with France's minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, who was appointed to the job in September. We discuss France's diplomatic initiatives in the Middle East, in Europe and in relation to Ukraine. Barrot addresses Donald Trump's dramatic return to power in the US and insists that US tariffs on Europe – which Trump has said he will impose – would be a "major error". Barrot says that, if Trump persists, France and Europe will defend their interests – their farmers and their industries – "with an iron will". Barrot also stresses that Europe now needs to accelerate the strategic autonomy agenda, in the face of the "global transformation that is happening now".

"The EU is the number one trade partner of the United States," Barrot states. "That is why it would be a major miscalculation for the US to slap tariffs on Europe in a massive and indiscriminate way. It would heavily penalise numerous American companies which are active in France and in Europe. And it would also penalise the American middle class, which buys a lot of products that come from Europe. So this kind of measure would hit the purchasing power of the American middle class. But if the Trump administration insists on pursuing what I call this major error, then we will defend our farmers, our industries and our trade with an iron will. What is an iron will? During Trump's first term in office there was perhaps a lack of preparation on Europe's part at the time. Back then, we were still very much in a free trade mentality. It was not the done thing to talk about sanctions, or about retaliating against unfair trade practices. But Europe has changed. You saw that last month, when Europe decided to apply tariffs on Chinese electric cars."

Asked whether Trump's victory is not the result that the EU had hoped for, Barrot says: "It's up to the American people to decide, it’s their sovereign choice. We have been working closely with the United States for 250 years. We have survived 59 American presidential elections, and we will obviously survive the 60th."

Does he think that Trump would abandon Ukraine? "I do not believe that Donald Trump will want to make gifts to Vladimir Putin, who is today weakened to the point of being forced to export the war to Asia, to get troops from North Korea in order to attack the Ukrainians," Barrot answers. "The Russian economy itself is on the verge of suffocation, with interest rates at 21 percent, labour shortages and an abysmal public deficit." Doing a quick deal that favours Putin would "enshrine the law of the strongest – 'might is right' – and it would have extremely serious consequences, not only in Europe, but everywhere else – the strongest, most aggressive powers would feel that it's safe for them to invade a neighbouring country. I think Donald Trump is too wise to go down in history as the person who endorsed the biggest land grab in our history", Barrot avers.

The top French diplomat admits, however, that Europe has a long way to go on the military aspect of strategic autonomy. "Eighty percent of our military procurement, in Europe, comes from outside the European Union," he points out. "This creates a dependency which is unacceptable, and in a sense it holds us back in our geostrategic choices. And that cannot continue as it is. This is why, as early as 2017, we were calling for our European defence industries to expand. At a time when France or Germany or Poland are increasing their defence spending, these increased expenditures have to be channelled into European industries."

We also touch on the recent spike in tensions between France and the Israeli government, following an incident in which Israeli police entered a French-owned compound in east Jerusalem, and briefly arrested two French gendarmes. In response, Barrot summoned the Israeli ambassador in France. "There are various diplomatic sanctions that can be activated, and we activated the most serious one," Barrot explains.

The French foreign minister goes on to take a hard line on Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank. "We have applied sanctions on several occasions, first of all against 28 violent and extremist individual settlers. But also at the European level, where we (France) were the drivers behind a new sanctions regime targeting individuals or entities that are responsible for this settlement activity, or complicit in it. We launched two rounds of sanctions against those individuals, and we are now working on a third round of sanctions at the European level," Barrot asserts.

Programme prepared by Luke Brown, Perrine Desplats, Isabelle Romero and Oihana Almandoz.