France Said to Float Using Most Powerful EU Trade Tool on US

The US plans to impose sweeping tariffs on global partners as soon as April 2.

Photographer: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

France wants the European Union to consider deploying its most powerful retaliatory measure against the US for the first time ever if President Donald Trump uses tariffs to unfairly force the bloc into policy changes.

France has joined a small group of EU countries that believes the so-called anti-coercion instrument — a tool designed to strike back against nations that use trade and economic measures coercively — should be on the table, according to people familiar with the matter, even if it isn’t the preferred course of action, one of them said.