PARIS: French presidential hopeful Manuel Valls said on Monday that if the government of President Donald Trump doesn’t respect US climate commitments, then Europe should tax imports from the country.
The Socialist party member echoed other French politicians in calling for a stronger European response in the face of promises by Trump to put “America first.”
“When Donald Trump declares a kind of economic war against Europe, it means that we must be ready — especially if the United States does not respect the words of Barack Obama concerning the climate agreement, then there should be a tax, a carbon tax, on American imports,” Valls told RTL radio.
Valls said that it was necessary to have a Europe that was”particularly solid” in the world today, in order to protect European interests.
A former prime minister under Socialist President Francois Hollande, Valls is facing a run-off on Sunday against former education minister Benoit Hamon in primaries to represent the left on the presidential ticket in April and May.
Separately, the conservative candidate for president Francois Fillon also called for a strong Europe in response to Trump, saying in an interview in Le Monde that the US president’s inauguration speech was a “very aggressive” warning.
On the day he took office, Trump promised to tend to US interests before any others.
While he has not addressed the Paris climate accord adopted by nearly 200 countries in 2015 since taking office, Trump had previously pledged to pull out of the agreement. He later softened his position on it.
Dismissed as a serious contender when the campaign began in December, the 49-year-old former education minister placed himself in the driving seat with what he called a “message of hope and renewal”.
With Europe apparently shifting rightwards and the deeply unpopular President Francois Hollande ruling himself out, the Socialist primary has been billed as a fight — a left-leaning faction represented by Hamon versus Valls’ centrist, pro-business camp.
The leftist Liberation daily on Monday billed the second round as a battle between “a left that takes charge versus a left that dreams.”
Hamon scored 36.3 per cent with Valls trailing on 31.1 per cent, according to results published late on Sunday. Between 1.6 million and 1.7 million voted, the head of the primary organising committee, Christophe Borgel, told RTL radio — less than half the four million who took part in the first round of the right wing primary.
Maverick former economy minister Arnaud Montebourg was eliminated with 17 per cent and immediately threw his support behind Hamon.
But whoever wins the Socialist nomination faces long odds.
Polls show the presidential election coming down to a contest between conservative ex-premier Francois Fillon, far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron, the 39-year-old former economy minister.
A defiant Valls, 54, told his supporters the Socialist primary runoff would be “a clear choice between unachievable promises and a credible left”.
Choosing Hamon, he said, would mean “certain defeat” in the presidential election whereas he offered a “possible victory”.
Some Socialist supporters said Hamon was a breath of fresh air.
The mild-mannered ex-minister said he offered hope to a party ailing after five years under Hollande — with Valls by his side until December — beset by economic sluggishness, labour protests and infighting among the Socialists.
His supporters had voted “through conviction and not out of resignation”, Hamon said. — Agencies
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