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Global markets surged as President Trump announced a 90-day pause on worldwide tariffs, with the exception of China. But this news came just hours after the EU voted to impose tariffs on specific U.S. products sold in Europe. That was in response to American tariffs on European aluminum and steel. It's a sequence of events that has added to the confusion of many Europeans. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports from Paris.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (Speaking French).
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: French news channels could hardly keep up today. Just as the EU voted to apply tariffs, President Trump hit pause again. Emmanuel Lechypre, an economic correspondent with BFM French TV, called Trump's abrupt turnabout spectacular.
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EMMANUEL LECHYPRE: (Through interpreter) We always have this unpredictability with Donald Trump that has become almost structural. He pushes buttons, launches provocations. He's always in this position of permanent surprises.
BEARDSLEY: The EU's carefully considered list will be released next week but has been widely leaked. It includes products like wood, poultry, fruit and even dental floss. What was not on the list was U.S. bourbon. President Trump had promised a 200% countertariff on European wine and spirits if it was. The U.S. is Europe's top wine, champagne and spirits market, so France, Italy and Ireland banded together to make sure that didn't happen.
Europe does not want a trade war. It is rolling out its response slowly to give negotiations a chance. Some tariffs on its list would not even take effect until next December, and the EU is offering zero tariffs if the U.S. reciprocates. But it is a huge market with 450 million consumers and is not ready to roll over, said French President Emmanuel Macron.
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PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: "France and Europe never wanted this chaos or the tariffs, but we will respond to protect our industries," he said.
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BEARDSLEY: Twenty-eight-year-old Leah Desmouttes (ph) was enjoying a glass of wine at a sidewalk cafe on a balmy Paris night. She says it's hard to understand what Trump wants.
LEAH DESMOUTTES: (Through interpreter) It's catastrophic. It's against free market values and globalization to close off your country like this. It goes against our system of living together.
BEARDSLEY: Her friend, Anne Audriard (ph), agrees.
ANNE AUDRIARD: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: "It's bedlam. I can't even follow it anymore," she says. "Between what your president is doing and our response to it, it's a morass. I think we need to wait a little and see." European leaders are also dealing with what many feel is Trump's unpredictability in other areas. For example, will the U.S. stay in NATO and still support Ukraine? Add to that the gyrating markets.
Bonjour, monsieur.
Parisian Arthur Le Gallou works in a wine shop, but he says what's going on is bigger than wine. Trump's actions are hurting the world, he says, but they're especially hurting America.
ARTHUR LE GALLOU: It's a great nation. It's a big nation of human rights, of democracy. And it's bad sign. No, yeah, I think it's bad for America and for all the world, yeah.
BEARDSLEY: This wine seller says it feels like President Trump is using his country like a company to make money for the rich. But for the rest of the world, he says, he's making chaos and uncertainty.
Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.
(SOUNDBITE OF RODRIGO Y GABRIELA'S "THE SOUNDMAKER") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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