France says EU has the tools to hit back at Trump over tariffs

• Minister says Paris in talks with EU counterparts over US tariffs.
• EU could respond to US tariffs with anti-coercion instrument: report.
• ACI could exclude US companies from EU procurement contracts.
  

Brussels has the tools to hit back at the United States for its latest round of tariffs, France’s trade minister Nicolas Forissier told the Financial Times on Saturday.

Paris was in talks with EU counterparts and the European Commission over US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose a flat global tariff of 10% after the US Supreme Court ruled that many of the existing tariffs he had levied on trading partners were illegal, Forissier said.

“Should it become necessary, the EU has the appropriate instruments at its disposal,” Forissier told the FT.

The EU response could include options such as the “trade bazooka”, an anti-coercion instrument (ACI) that could affect US technology companies, the newspaper said, citing French officials.

The ACI has a broad range of powers from export controls to tariffs on services, as well as excluding US companies from EU procurement contracts, it said.

There is also a suspended package of retaliatory tariffs on more than $106 billion of US goods that could be deployed, the report added.