EU ready to respond to U.S. tariff threat on France -Le Maire

Reuters
Updated

PARIS, Dec 3 (Reuters) - The latest U.S. tariff threats on French products are "unacceptable" and the European Union is ready to issue a riposte, French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said on Tuesday.

On Monday, the U.S. government said it may slap punitive duties of up to 100% on $2.4 billion of imports from France of champagne, handbags, cheese and other products, after concluding that France's new digital services tax would harm U.S. tech companies.

"In case of new American sanctions, the European Union would be ready to riposte," Le Maire told Radio Classique. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Andrew Heavens)