French Leaders Are Using Trump’s Trade War to Push Austerity
European leaders have lined up to condemn Donald Trump’s tariff plans as absurd. Yet some are also using the crisis to push their existing agendas — with France’s government stepping up pressure for sweeping budget cuts.
France’s prime minister, François Bayrou, speaking to the press on May 24, 2025, in Paris, France. (Geoffroy van der Hasslet / AFP via Getty Images)
Right from his inauguration, Donald Trump unleashed slash-and-burn austerity on the federal government — with even deeper cuts planned for coming months. As part of a breakneck eighteen-month agenda to maximize “governmental efficiency and productivity,” Trump has advanced a wide-ranging attack on the way the US government has hitherto functioned, including internationally.
In early April, Trump carried through on another campaign promise to upend global commerce by imposing massive tariffs on nearly every other country. Stock markets plunged, and business confidence evaporated. For a moment, it seemed like the postwar system of global commerce hung in the balance.
Trump’s smash-and-grab announcements sent governments around the world scrambling, faced with rising fears of Washington provoking a global recession.
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