French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou slammed the European Union (EU) Monday for giving in to President Donald Trump in negotiating a new trade deal with the U.S.
Bayrou joined numerous French leaders from across the political spectrum, including right-wing National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, in condemning the EU for bowing to Trump’s demands, the PM said on X Monday. Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reached a trade deal Sunday that settles on a 15% tariff on EU goods entering the U.S., with Europe also pledging to make large purchases of American military equipment and energy; Trump previously threatened to institute 30% tariffs if Europe did not come to a deal.
“It is a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, united to assert their values and defend their interests, resigns itself to submission,” Bayrou said on X according to a Politico translation. (RELATED: Trump Announces EU Trade Deal)
Leader of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) parliamentary group Marine Le Pen reacts as she attends a government statement and parliamentary debate on France’s energy sovereignty at the French National Assembly in Paris on April 28, 2025. (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images)
Le Pen, who has expressed fondness for Trump in the past, slammed the deal as a “political, economic and moral fiasco,” according to EuroNews. Others inside Bayrou’s government panned the deal, with French Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin telling French media that the deal as it stands “would be accepting that Europe is not an economic power,” according to a Politico translation.
Other European leaders chimed in on the deal, with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban also agreeing Trump got a favorable deal from the EU.
“It wasn’t a deal that President Donald Trump made with Ursula von der Leyen. It was Donald Trump eating Ursula von der Leyen for breakfast,” Orban said on the “Warrior’s Hour” podcast Monday morning.
Trump made it a priority of his administration to re-balance global trade with various nations across the globe, instituting a flurry of tariffs in the opening months of his leadership which brought many global powers to the negotiating table, including the EU.
The French Embassy in the U.S. did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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