France's President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that he wanted an EU-US trade deal "as soon as possible, with the lowest tariffs possible", with a Washington-set deadline looming to reach an accord.
"The right deal for me is the deal that is struck as soon as possible, with the lowest tariffs possible, and that must be fair and firm," Macron said.
"What we need are not tariffs between the United States and Europe, but an open market in which products can circulate," he said as he visited the birthplace of Roquefort blue cheese in the south of France, where producers are expected to be affected by any drastic increase in levies.
The EU commission, which leads trade policy for the 27-nation bloc, has until Wednesday next week to strike an agreement or see President Donald Trump restore his sweeping tariffs.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said earlier on Thursday that the European Union was "ready for a deal" with the United States.
EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic is in Washington and was due to meet his US counterparts on Thursday.
If no deal is reached, the default tariff on EU imports is expected to double to 20 percent or even higher—Trump having at one point threatened to impose 50 percent levies.
Macron said he had hoped for a deal to include "zero for zero" percent tariffs, but what seemed more realistic was "to obtain what is today the minimum for the Americans" which was "10 percent for 10 percent" in custom fees.
The French president said he hoped EU "defense efforts" encouraged by Washington, as well as plans to buy US "liquefied gas" to help reduce dependency on Russia, would weigh in the bloc's favor in talks.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz earlier in the day urged the European Union to strike a "quick and simple" deal.
With AFP
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