\u201cWhen we disagree, it\u2019s always better to stay engaged, and that\u2019s what we are doing. The dialogue has to keep on going as long as lines that shouldn\u2019t be crossed are not crossed,\u201d he said, noting the US and France had been close allies for 250 years.<\/p>\n
Asked whether the EU should retaliate with economic sanctions if Trump were to invade Greenland, Lescure said: \u201cI\u2019m not going there. I mean, obviously, if that happened we would be in a totally new world for sure, and we would have to adapt accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The EU and US have by far the largest bilateral trade relationship in the world, with total trade in goods and services exceeding \u20ac1.6tn in 2024, according to EU data. The US is the bloc\u2019s biggest export market.<\/p>\n
Trump has spooked Europe in recent weeks by repeatedly insisting that the US will take \u201cownership\u201d of Greenland one way or the other, arguing it was a national security issue. <\/p>\n
For Lescure, Trump\u2019s designs on Greenland are just the latest example of how tricky it has become to deal with the US because of what he called the \u201cparadox\u201d of how it was behaving \u2014 sometimes as an ally and sometimes as an unpredictable adversary.<\/p>\n
Another flashpoint has been the EU\u2019s regulation of American tech giants. Lescure said Bessent had told him that US companies \u201cdo not like fines\u201d, in an apparent reference to the bloc imposing financial penalties on tech groups, such as \u20ac120mn on Elon Musk\u2019s X<\/a> in December. <\/p>\n \u201cI told him that we would apply European laws to any companies that do business in Europe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Lescure said discussions with Bessent and other G7 finance ministers in Washington this week showed a willingness to work on diversifying rare earth supply chains to reduce dependence on China. France aims to have proposals in time for the G7 meeting in Evian in June, which could include price floors and buying agreements.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to move faster on all these topics because China is not waiting, and the US is not waiting,\u201d he said. \u201cEurope has to assert our strength\u201d as a major market and economic power.<\/p>\n But while it pushes for more aggressive foreign policy, France has been hamstrung by large deficits and a political stalemate over its 2026 budget. <\/p>\n Without a majority in parliament, President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s successive prime ministers \u2014 four in 18 months \u2014 cannot pass budgets so they have been forced to make concessions to the opposition, notably the centre-left Socialists.<\/p>\n Lescure promised that there would be a budget \u201cvery soon\u201d and said talks were continuing. But the prime minister later indicated that the negotiations were proving fruitless and said he would soon resort to constitutional manoeuvres to override lawmakers. <\/p>\n Such a move would open up the government to being toppled in a no-confidence vote.<\/p>\n The government is aiming to cut France\u2019s deficit to 5 per cent of GDP in 2026, from 5.4 per cent in 2025. <\/p>\n Parliamentary paralysis has strengthened the far-right Rassemblement National, whose leaders Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella are well ahead of rivals ahead of a 2027 presidential race to succeed Macron. <\/p>\n Finding a budget deal quickly would help blunt the far right\u2019s ascent, Lescure argued, by showing that mainstream parties could overcome differences. \u201cI think that\u2019s going to be a minus for the RN, not a plus,\u201d Lescure said.<\/p>\n Recommended<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re trying to disguise themselves as business-friendly, but they vote taxes in parliament that are completely inefficient, business-unfriendly and unconstitutional,\u201d Lescure said of the RN, which he branded as \u201cincompetent\u201d on the economy.<\/p>\n Bardella has lately been wooing business leaders<\/a>, and the RN was still looking to recruit advisers among investors and businesspeople in France, people who had been approached said.<\/p>\n![\"Roland](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/https:\/\/d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net\/production\/2456b872-65a5-441a-b286-c3dc23815f88.jpg\")
Lescure: \u2018Greenland is a sovereign part of a sovereign country that is part of the EU. That shouldn\u2019t be messed around [with]\u2019 \u00a9 Sadak Souici\/ZUMA Press\/Reuters Connect<\/p>\n![\"S\u00e9bastien](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/https:\/\/images.ft.com\/v3\/image\/raw\/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2F35f469.jpeg\")
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