French President Emmanuel Macron will conclude a three-day state visit to the U.K. on Thursday after a Franco-British summit that’s being held in London today.
The U.K. has pulled out the stops for the French leader and his wife Brigitte, who were greeted by the Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate, as they arrived in England on Tuesday, before they were whisked off to meet King Charles III and Queen Camilla in Windsor.
Roads were closed in the town as the Macrons joined the Royals for a carriage procession to the castle, where a state banquet was held in their honor.
The French president met business leaders on Wednesday, and is due to hold talks with Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday in which they are expected to focus on “joint priorities” including migration, trade, defense and security, the U.K. government said.
Looming large is the thorny issue of Washington and how to handle Trump and his increasingly unwieldy and unpredictable tariffs regime, which could affect severely impact European and global economic growth.
On Monday, Trump shared screenshots on social media of signed “letters” that were purportedly sent to 14 countries, including Japan, South Korea and South Africa, telling them that they faced a steep hike in trade tariffs from Aug. 1, extending an initial deadline of July 9.
He then, on Wednesday, announced at least seven more countries that would be hit with punitive duties, as well as a 50% tariff on Brazil partly in retaliation against the current trial against former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for his role in an alleged attempt to overturn the country’s 2022 election results.
Trump also announced a 50% levy on copper imports, which will begin on Aug.1, and signaled that more sector-specific tariffs will come soon.
White House Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said that further letters will be sent out in the coming days but, so far, the European Union (EU) has received nothing, leaving it in limbo over what tariffs it could face.
Hopes are rising that a U.S.-EU trade deal could be inked this week although how beneficial — or disadvantageous — it will be to Brussels remains a big unknown as Macron, who leads the bloc’s second-largest economy, travels to the U.K.
“The EU is reportedly rushing to conclude a deal with the U.S., possibly by the end of this week already,” Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank, noted Tuesday, emphasizing that “major stumbling blocks remain.”
“The EU seems to have grudgingly accepted that the current 10% U.S. base tariff in addition to some sectoral tariffs cannot be negotiated away. The EU still hopes to get some limited exemptions from these tariffs, for example for aircraft and aircraft parts, so that the overall rise in the average U.S. tariff on imports from the EU this year will be below 10 percentage points. The U.S. is so far threatening to impose higher tariffs than that,” he said.
Pomp and pageantry
Britain has certainly rolled out the red carpet for Macron’s state visit, which has had all the pomp and pageantry that the country excels at.
On Tuesday, the Macrons were met by the Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate, before being accompanied to Windsor, where they have taken part in a carriage procession with King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
The king delivered a speech at the start of the state visit in which he said that the U.K. and France “face a multitude of complex threats, emanating from multiple directions. As friends and as allies, we face them together. These challenges know no borders: no fortress can protect us against them this time.”
The Macrons are known to have a warm relationship with the British royals. Tellingly, the king last won plaudits from Paris when he addressed the French Senate in both English and French, which he speaks fluently, during a state visit in 2023.
This is the first state visit by an EU leader on British soil since the U.K. acrimoniously left the bloc in 2020 following the 2016 Brexit referendum. The British government said the visit “will provide a historic opportunity to showcase the breadth of the U.K.-France relationship.”
Starmer, who seems to have ingratiated himself with Trump despite their different political persuasions, might have also been able to give Macron some tips on how to win over their transatlantic ally, as the EU continues trade negotiations with Washington.
Trump stated matter-of-factly that the U.K. was the first country to strike a trade deal with Washington, and was likely to be protected from future tariffs, “because I like them.” Macron has meanwhile had a trickier ride with the U.S. leader, who has humiliated him more than once. In June, at the last G-7 meeting, Trumplambasted Macron as “publicity seeking.”
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