Customs duties: jobs and businesses under constant scrutiny

This was one of the demands of the two leading trade unions: the "creation of a weekly crisis unit" was agreed upon on Friday during a meeting at Bercy on the possible effects of the increase in American customs duties on employment in France.

Gathered around the table for two hours were representatives of the representative trade unions in the private sector (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC and CFTC), the Ministers of the Economy (Éric Lombard), Labour (Catherine Vautrin and Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet), Public Accounts (Amélie de Montchalin), Foreign Trade (Laurent Saint-Martin), Industry (Marc Ferracci), as well as the Secretary of State for Digital Affairs (Clara Chappaz).

"We won, we had to fight, we set up a crisis unit," CGT general secretary Sophie Binet told the press after the meeting.

This "meeting will technically allow us to closely monitor the situation of businesses every week" with ministerial offices, "before a next meeting in less than a month" with the ministers, explained CFDT Secretary General Marylise Léon, for whom the "challenge is to respond to the employment emergency."

During the meeting, the CGT also "emphasized the need for a complete change in the government's economic doctrine," once again deeming that "supply-side policy [was] a shipwreck."

At Bercy, the Montreuil trade union also presented "16 emergency measures against the trade war," including "a moratorium on layoffs" and "a strict framework for conditioning public aid paid to businesses."

Fixed-term contracts cancelled, temporary contracts stopped

"Today, there are very serious concerns among employees: in companies, fixed-term contracts are being cut, temporary assignments are being stopped, contracts are not being renewed, and redundancy plans are continuing, which, for some companies, is a windfall," Ms. Léon denounced.

But for the time being, no precise figures on the number of jobs directly or indirectly threatened have been presented to employee representatives, indicated union officials interviewed by AFP.

"Faced with trade tensions, the objective is clear: protect jobs, ensure salary continuity, and anticipate transitions," stated Labor Minister Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet on X.

Cyril Chabanier, president of the CFTC, reiterated his opposition to "a general increase in customs tariffs on American products, which could lead to an escalation of protectionism unfavorable to Europeans."

"Targeted customs duties are needed to encourage the development and relocation of certain strategic activities, such as the pharmaceutical and defense industries," the Christian organization argued.

The meeting at Bercy, loudly demanded by the unions, comes a few days after a National Industry Council to which the leading unions were not invited.

On April 9, French industrialists gathered at Bercy around Minister Marc Ferracci to express their concerns about a "historic shock" and to attempt to develop a French position.

One of the main lessons was that there was "no objection to a firm approach and a rapid response from the European Union," according to Bercy, although it reported different "sensitivities" and "concerns" depending on the sector, particularly regarding the consequences of an escalation.

Tax, retaliation, tax, retaliation: the United States and the EU have been engaged in a trade standoff for several weeks.

US President Donald Trump, who has shaken up the international economic order, announced sharp increases in US customs duties, before temporarily reducing them to 10% on most products for a period of 90 days.

The EU, which had planned to respond, aligned itself with this American pause to negotiate with the American administration, without however communicating a precise timetable.