AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
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Gerard Araud, French ambassador to the United States, told reporters he is concerned about the possibility of a trade war between the US and Europe over the auto sector.
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The embassy has released a new study showing the benefits of trade cooperation between the United States and France.
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"There is an obsession by the president on trade about cars," Araud said. "Every time he's talking about trade with the Europeans, he's talking about BMW or Mercedes."
An important engine of US economic growth is also a key sticking point in trade negotiations with Europe under the administration of Donald Trump: the auto sector.
Trump has made a war on free trade a lynchpin of his presidency, picking fights with everyone from key US allies like Canada and Mexico to more adversarial states like China.
Gerard Araud, France’s ambassador to Washington, believes the US and Europe would be better served working together to contain what he sees as unfair Chinese trade practices, rather than bickering with one another.
During his state visit in April, French President Emmanuel Macron "basically told President Trump, 'we are facing a common problem with China, you’re right to raise the issue,'" Araud told reporters during a briefing at his official residence in Washington.
"It’s true that trade with China is not always fair, especially because of issues around intellectual property, but also the problem of access to markets and public procurement. So the idea was, Macron told Trump, you know, we should work together.
"The reaction of Trump was 'No way, the European Union is worse than China'" on trade.
US-EU trade worries reached fever pitch ahead of EU President Jean-Claude Juncker’s visit to the United States, but a last minute deal on specific sectors like natural gas and medical services helped avoid a full-on tit-for-tat trade war.
Still, a lot remains unresolved, in part because the US is juggling several negotiations at once, including the North American Free-Trade Agreement, which is crucial to the auto industry, as well as a new round of wide-ranging tariffs on Chinese goods.
"The cars will be certainly a sort of test case in the coming weeks and months on this European-American relationship — if the Americans go back to this idea of tariffs on cars or not,” Araud said. Any substantive talks “will take months to negotiate, and we are not sure that the president — your president — has the patience to wait for it."