Le Maire warns against EU-US trade escalation given virus hit

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said it’s even more important for Europe and the U.S. to solve its trade dispute given the threat to the global economy from the coronavirus.

He told a French senate hearing that an escalation of tariffs and sanctions would be hugely damaging. There’s already widespread concern about the epidemic, which has shut businesses and factories, prompted huge downgrades to the global economic outlook and pushed the Federal Reserve into an emergency interest rate cut.

“This game of sanctions and reprisals is dangerous for transatlantic trade and it’s suicidal at a time of a strong slowdown in global growth,” Le Maire said Thursday. “In normal times, the logic of sanctions and reprisals is already bad, and in the extraordinary times we’re living I think it would be totally unreasonable.”

The U.S. is involved in a long-running spat over subsidies to Airbus SE that harmed American aircraft maker Boeing Co, while it’s also specifically threatening French products because of a digital tax dispute. Efforts between the two regions to hammer out a trade agreement have gained little momentum since talks began a year and a half ago.

Le Maire plans to meet with EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan and German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier in the coming days to discuss negotiations.

He hopes to find a solution, but said European governments must still be ready to react as needed and “defend our most fundamental economic interests."