According to French media, quoting multiple corporate leaders and company directors throughout France [LINK], the leadership of France’s biggest companies told Macron to ‘get stuffed’ following the French president’s demand to divest their interests from America.
President Macron ordered 50 of the largest companies with positions in the USA to attend an emergency economic meeting at Elysée Palace. As reported by French media, “Some of us fell out of our chairs,” confided one of the 50 or so French business leaders invited.”
“We are not in an administered economy,” thunders the leader of an employers’ movement. And the CEO of a CAC 40 giant bluntly asserts: “I don’t give a damn about what Macron says. We have operations in the United States. There is no question of abandoning them just like that. We must respect our commitments to our employees, our customers and our shareholders. An opinion shared by a manager of a spirits producer: “It is out of the question to stop investing in the United States, especially in the current economic slump.” [link]
This type of reaction should not be surprising at it reflects the transparent disconnect between ideological government officials and generally pragmatic business leaders. Macron can stomp his reactionary feet, but corporate leaders and company owners are focused on the purpose of their enterprise, profit.
The American consumer market is the most valuable consumer market in the world. We do not have the largest population; however, we do have the largest population with the ability to purchase things. It is the ability to buy stuff that makes access to the U.S. market the golden ticket for foreign company sales and profit.
Despite the erosion of disposable income, an outcome of the exfiltration of U.S. wealth, Americans still have the ability to purchase goods and services at a level that is much, much higher than any other nation. Lessening that wealth was/is the goal of modern leftists; Barack Obama stated so openly in his, “share the wealth” worldview. Hence, the ideologues fight any policy, system or enterprise which protects or enlarges the American slice of the economic pie.
President Trump is putting American wealth, middle-class quality of life, at the forefront of policy. Reciprocal and national security tariffs are arrows in his very unique quiver. Multinational corporations, Democrats and professional leftists under multiple party names around the world are reacting to his policies that return the U.S.A to a position of gaining economically.
The EU taxes and subsidizes their population at a level that ultimately restricts and limits disposable income. Meanwhile the population of India, southeast Asia and Africa spend most of their income sustaining basic life needs. Travel the world and you will see how most of these areas welcome the tourism of Americans.
Reciprocity is the term but ultimately President Trump’s goal is a zero-tariff trade relationship with each nation. That targeted reciprocity includes direct duties and elimination of non-tariff barriers.
It’s not just other nations making our exports more expensive, the issue is also other nations putting rules, regulations and barriers against U.S. companies and products in order to make it impossible to sell our products into their countries.
The leaders of the tariff-affected governments well understand the objective; they are thrashing and gnashing their teeth because they want to retain the imbalance. The companies within those nations, like this example of France, understand there is simply no way for them to pull out of America and still maintain their earnings and profits.
As stated, the various foreign governments will surge in opposition, then fail as the reality of the situation is encompassed in the brutally honest approach by President Trump. However, it is important to remember, those foreign governments and foreign corporations also purchase influence in U.S. politics through lobbying.
We are the only government that has a formal and legal process by which another country can purchase influence for their specific interests. No other nation OPENLY permits American companies to pay government officials to change policy in their nation.
When foreign politicians accept money for influence Washington DC publicly calls it bribery and corruption. However, when those same DC politicians accept foreign money for influence, Washington DC calls it “lobbying.”

Macron, Macron, Macron…
Step away from eating the cheese and be the surrender monkey we always knew you were!
In this case, surrender to your own businessman citizens, and secondly to common sense.
Then you can have as much cheese as you want. Nobody moved yours.
Just a matter of time…
A French rifle…
Never been fired and only dropped once.
Q. How many gears does a French tank have?
A. Five; one forward, four reverse.
😆
Q . Why are there so many trees along the Champs-Élysées.
A. So that the Germans could march in the shade.
The ones on eBay have been dropped TWICE….first time was in 1915
Speaking of the globalists FO moments…
Anybody seen Justin from Canada…
Macron is in the FO stage and is receiving the consequences/result one must face {irrelevance},
When you FA with OPM.
In God We Trust
{All others pay cash}
Trust God
Fear not
The Idiot King has been put in hiding while the Cdn election is underway. The liberals do NOT want anyone reminded of that fool while they try to steal the next election.
About the only thing France mass produces and sells well domestically.
Yes indeed Betsy. Secretary Bessent also called this in the excellent TC interview SD posted.
Paraphrasing, Bessent said to watch the reactions of large corporations to fair trade tariffs and not their home countries who try to control them.
This is a perfect example.
Smaller countries like Vietnam are reaching out to POTUS Trump to make a deal.
“Smaller countries like Vietnam are reaching out to POTUS Trump to make a deal.”
Is this, by chance, the same Vietnam that currently imposes a 90% tariff on imported US goods?
Yes and Vietnam is now one of 50 countries who called POTUS Trump interested in negotiating
Why would anyone take advice from a man who married his own uncle? He’s a dirty little French frog.
I thought he married his high school PE Coach.
Oh, his high school PE Coach WAS his uncle, and he married him/her//it.
From Jean-Michel to Brigitte Trogneux
80 year old Trans is Brigitte Macron.
https://audaciouscat.com/rabbit/from-jean-michel-to-brigitte-trogneux/
If true, it’s no wonder the olympics had those perverse exhibitions
Even if this is not 100% true, what kind of weirdo would marry his aunt 10+ years older than himself? Answer: 1% of humanity or less.
Oh my.
The mind boggles.
Eff you see cay Macron!
Why are the roads in France lined with trees?
So the German army can march in the shade.
Ouch! 🤣
Cruel but DAMN funny!
Without American Tourism and wine sales what is France’s largest industry anymore?
hijabs and burkas
they produce vast amounts of:
better-than-you snobbery…
Prayer rugs….
white flags….
Already got me a French Press coffee maker and a couple of French Cookbooks.. Yep I’m all good.
Lol. I’ll take a Ribeye (from a local, ranch raised steer), a baked potato and home grown salad over any of the so-called French cuisine. Every time.
Did you forget to post /sarc at the end of your coment? 😉
Yum, Yum. Now you have made me hungry for that very meal. Sigh! I will have to compensate, as I smell my homemade chili aromas wafting from the kitchen. Tomorrow is another day.
Don’t forget the smelly cheese!
Brie?
American made
https://www.murrayscheese.com/lp/cheese/american-brie-and-creamy-cheese-TN46COafp?srsltid=AfmBOor7qrlJhcVWjw4c-1bofndr0iErMkSlwkbOGvbMURrvA1yr853T
Murray’s has US made, but also many imports.
Their Grated Parmagiano Reggiano is excellent. It has no starch or additives. That comes from Italy of course.
I hate to admit this but I believe that the best Swiss cheese is made in France.
American made https://presidentcheese.com/products/brie-cheese/president-brie-round/
Yep, I can attest this is le fromage délicieux 😋
All the variety you need! FK France! https://www.wisconsincheese.com/our-cheese/find-cheese
Knives.
Bullshyte?
cars (some interest in airbus and dassault.) exotic super cars. ridiculously priced purses. fashionably fugly clothes.
and cigarettes that can kill a skunk at distance.
they also sell lots of some dubious weapons systems.
but the real core GDP is a services based economy…
france is also known to be a haven for despots and has a history of clever money laundering.
about the only thing that I personally think they do quite well is architectual design…aircraft, cars, and there is this particular catamaran that I really like, called the gunboat. It was initially designed by an American, but a few years back sold it and there is a French engineering firm that has played a big role in realizing even more incredible technologies…it is of course well beyond my means…but perhaps one day…you never know…the 80 foot gunboat is both luxury and performance that no other class sailboat can match even closely.
other than that…they do okay in some food stuffs…
overall, it’s the engineering and machine making that makes France somewhat of a first world developer.
I think their real core GDP is USAID money
Once Russia nukes France you can probably get one at fire sale prices!
The French are very good at design, and great cuisine.
Unfortunately like many other nations their political class has enriched themselves to live like kings.
It’s sad that so many of the populace has turned a blind eye to the destruction of their economies. Just like the US.
What about high speed trains?
Good luck getting those over here with all the highway crossings.
I do wear French perfume, Worth Je Reviens, Chanel °5 and Nina Ricci, and have been for decades. They are classics.
number 5 is a classic no doubt. you know how they say deja Vu…for me, my trigger is a familiar perfume.
Melissa Arceneaux, 1981. I still remember.
God Bless America
Yes, it a classic but it stinks.
Is Joy, in the little blue bottle, a French perfume? Can’t remember, but that was what my mom wore.. Dad would save up his pay and try to bring her home a small bottle every time he was on a Mediterranean cruise on the carriers he was stationed on.
Chanel No. 5 and Dior are the only perfumes that don’t “stink to high heaven” and would gag you, with my body chemistry.
Such a dilemma/sarc.
I’ve noticed that the French are quite good at surrendering.
You like their catamarans, I like their purses.
The food is too rich and not practical, but a real croissant or fresh baguette is very special.
C’est la vie!
lAirbus! Given a choice I will take the Airbus over Boeing any day
Ouai!
I have used and loved a sturdy set of French stainless steel cookware for 35 years. Try to find the same brand’s additional pieces – made in China.
There are also high quality manufacturers of solid copper/ brass handled and enameled cast iron cookware.
Lodge still makes cast iron in USA, as well as a few other high tech cast iron versions that are lighter. But I know of no one doing solid copper in USA.
I agree their copper is lovely – used to own a Mauviel saucepan.
But found I am just too friggin busy in retirement to polish copper, and without that chore they are nowhere near as lovely.
Thanks.
That is one of the brands. I was having a senior moment and could not think of it.
Do a search on eBay, sign up for new listings.
You will find what you want way faster than searching locally.
I use some 20 year old Le Creuset pans, just find them a bit too heavy.
The Cuisinart company used to be French owned and I still have an original food processor from 1979.
The motor is exceptional but the bowl is cracked and I can’t find a replacement for that model.
Have to give credit where credit is due, but they need to cooperate and drop their tariffs asap.
Airbus with all of the tariffs.
Money talks BS walks. President Donald J Trump has the “Magic Wand” of his Tariff pen

A Rothschild Banker, is Time magazine’s “Next Leader of Europe”?
Never saw it comin’.. /$
💰🤴
Yup!
I see the humor of it all…..
Macron is a puppet ….and perhaps more😉😉..
of the Rothschilds.
That the French manufacturers are pushing back on
the Rothschild bankers/empire….brings a big smile 😊
And I would place bets that the financial “experts “
who are against the tariffs here in the US…have ties to
the Rothschild bankers and The City of London bankers
…🤷♀️💁♀️which are basically the same entities.
Watching President Trump burn it to the ground, and listening
to them squeal….most delightful.😁😁😁
🇺🇸 🇺🇸 America First 🇺🇸🇺🇸
Made in America
Napoleon complex.
Yeah, mr. macron walks on water… tells you everything you need to know about their thinking.
I’m sure he does…
…in very shallow puddles.
France is one of the great loser here since they have balanced trade with the US. On their own they would have been taxed 10% like the UK. The largest exporters (Italy and Germany) again benefit from lower tariffs since they are diluted by the rest of the EU. Germany controls the EU so they will block any kind of overt retaliation to avoid an escalation. Well played Mr. Trump.
Love Cary Grant!
“Cali, Cali, Cali!”
After my father was released from the hospital from his wounds from the Battle of the Bulge, instead of sending him home they put him in a Military Police unit in Paris for a couple of months. He couldn’t get over the stink of the city. Doesn’t look like it has changed much since 1944
During my only two trips to Paris in the ’90’s, I could not get over the amount of dog poop on the sidewalks. Owners not required to pick up after their pooches; streets washed down at night.
Major stench, especially if you accidentally stepped in it! 😮 🦨
and the Muzzies dont protest that?
Protest? I bet it’s a lot cleaner than wherever they came from.
It is.
I think the mall looked really clean.
If you showed the video without
telling anyone where it was….
wonder where they would say it was?
Looks pretty clean to me!
NightLife of IRANIAN Girls and Boys 🇮🇷 IRAN 2025 Night Walk ایران – YouTube
😃 😃 You decide…..🤷♀️💁♀️
Their young girls are really beautiful.
Surprised at how many have the colored hair
in some of the videos I have watched.
😉 😉 Reminds me of all the propaganda about Russia 😉😉
NightLife of IRANIAN Girls and Boys 🇮🇷 IRAN 2025 Night Walk ایران – YouTube
I’ve dated Christian Syrian and Christian Iranian women, stunning creatures, they were..
Nope. In Paris it’s the dogs protesting the Muzzies $hitting in the streets!
Do they tag buildings, walls, trash containers
….anything and everything with spray paint like
our 🇺🇸invaders do?
Their “art” is everywhere here in the SW…..🤮🤮
The South Americans love their graffiti.
I am not sure if their art has reached the East coast
yet…it will. Part of their culture.💁♀️
Really? 😀😀😀😂😂
This was filmed 11 months ago.
The streets there appear to be a lot cleaner
than Paris!
NightLife In IRAN!! 🇮🇷 They don’t want you to know ایران – YouTube
About that night life in Iran. At 24 seconds into the video the screen font reads:
“Salman Shahr is one of the tourist cities in the north of Iran”
Is that Iranian speak for “Potemkin Village”?
They probably do.
Or…
Maybe the lower class were the ones who migrated
to EU?
NightLife of IRANIAN Girls and Boys 🇮🇷 IRAN 2025 Night Walk ایران – YouTube
I am laughing out loud as you have brought to mind a very funny incident. It occurred at the Nice Airport in the mid 80’s. Too many details to relay., but I’ll try to give you a brief story. A person walking a yorkie in the airport was trying to do its business as she dragged it across the floor, plop, plop, plop. Every airport worker just looked at it and kept on going. Some snooty frenchmen put their very expensive luggage down right in it! By now my coworkers and I are laughing hysterically. We were laughing because it was one in a series of funny things that happened the entire day. Finally, an airport employee put sawdust all over it, but never did pick it up! Tears streaming down my face from laughing as I recalled it. Thanks for those great and funny memories. Have a glorious week.
I traveled Europe in the 80’s for a month. Paris train station smelled like cigarette butts and urine. Colosseum in Rome was filled with wild cats and smelled like cat piss / Spray marking their area. The whole Colosseum.
Went to Italy in 1997. Cats ran the colosseum. They are considered part of the scenery there. Always found it odd.
Well I loved Paris in the 90s. It wasn’t dirty, and we took the Metro everywhere. The French were very nice to us foreigners. Except the snooty waiter who was tres Parisien.
That aside, Macaron is a vile dwarf with an Eiffel tower sized ego. And France is no longer a desirable holiday destination.
Everyone judges France after visiting Paris and finds it not very nice, including the people.
The real charm of France and the French is outside of Paris in the smaller towns and villages.
Normandy, Provence and other regions have so much more to see and the people are a lot friendlier.
I always compare it to only visiting NYC and missing the beautiful country towns, and people across the US.
I agree. I loved Normandy and the people there. We found a place to eat and they were getting ready to close, but because we were Americans, they stayed open and fed us some of the best country style food I’ve ever found in Europe. This was in the mid 80’s.
Agree!
That is what I have heard from guys
who I worked with who were stationed
in Europe in the 50’s-60s.
It smelled horrible, and it was dirty and
disgusting with dog and cat mess all
over the place.
And now people are saying it’s a new
problem….🙃🙃🤪😜
It’s always been a cesspool.
The lions and tigers had their revenge did they?😂
Hmmm, that explains Bourbon St.
Unless something has changed (doubt it) they let their dogs poop all over the streets. One must be very careful where they step.
Same thing an old vet told me who
was there during WWII.
He was one of the many Mexican Americans
from my neck of the woods who was there during WWII.
He said that it was easier for the guys in his unit who
spoke Spanish to communicate than the English only
guys.
He had some great pictures of his visit…and yeah, he kept
talking about how disgusting it smelled. And that applied
to the people too. 😋😬😬 Stale and over perfumed was his
description.
He has passed away. RIP 🙏
It was truly breathtakingly beautiful about 40 years ago.
As an art and architectural historian I pray for the survival of the great gothic cathedrals. In particular the birthplace of Gothic architecture the chapel at Saint-Denis, designed by the Abbott Suger in 1144.
I agree – at least they have not torn down their beautiful cathedrals and chateaux – yet.
Sadly that pic is not too far from reality.
Now THAT is some class – almost extinct. This is what we used to look like. How the mighty have fallen.
“oh Paris, I remember it well, you wore blue, the Germans wore gray” Ric, Casablanca
Trump will make America wealthy again BUT when he leaves just more money for the politicians to steal from you. Foreign Govts will buy US politicians again and the wealth will be gone shortly after TRUMP leaves office. Unless of course TRUMP would arrest and drain the swamps of corrupt politicians but HE WILL NOT DO that no matter how much evidence ELON uncovers.
Only We the People can fix this!!!🇺🇸
Another PDJT mind reader. Whatever would we do without them?
😆
Feed a man for a day and you will have to feed him forever.
Let am man forage to feed himself and he will learn to feed himself.
That picture of Macron. The Jack Benny pose?
“No matter how often I tell people I’m thirty-nine some of them refuse to believe I’m that old.“
Thanks, my friend…
One of the funniest who ever lived.
And a real gentleman.
Before he died he arranged that after his passing his widow, his beloved Mary, received roses on her birthday every year….
Yeah, Jack was great, and ahead of his time.
What’s even more amazing is the people of these woke and globalist foreign governments could have what PT is giving/doing if they just would rise up and say enough. Vote out the left and put in place a nationalist, Trump like leader.
But they just sit idly by and watch as the left locks of their conservative candidates.
The way the EU is heading it wouldn’t surprise me if America fights the EU before we ever fight Russia.
The people are, but the EU is canceling election results or throwing candidates in jail
And 20,000 more people joined Le Penns party, when her home arrest was announced (and its since been rescinded.
AFD has pulled even with the establishment, the eurowienies globullusts couldn’t form a coalition of the willing, its over, they just don’t accept it yet.
Eugyppius substack just did a dive into the AfD pulling even for first place. So yes, people are beginning to stand up to the people who would be their overlords.
https://www.eugyppius.com/p/gleichauf-alternative-fur-deutschland
Merz and his German jackbooted party disenfranchise and ban the AfD in 3–2-1.
Missed that – thank you for the great news!
I can’t wait to see the collapse of the EU and von der Leyen out of power.
Somewhere in Dixie: The dirty secret is that von der Leyen has no power. She is an unelected talking head.
Same thoughts here. Two thumbs up!
France (Macron) has just demanded that migrants from anywhere in the EU be allowed to claim asylum in Britain.
Starmer, who in his Marxist heart of hearts wants Britain totally back in the EU, will acquiesce.
Today thousands of (unarmed) British patriots who have had well enough are marching in Portsmouth and an islamified London.
I expect that the time when the bottled up anger throughout the aforementioned countries explodes draws nearer.
As in December 25, 1989 in Romania?
I used to think not…but times change.
“If something can’t go on forever, it will stop.”
~Herbert Stein~
Or be made to stop.
Thank goodness we have President Trump,
Tom Homan and our LEOs who are working
hard to get rid of our invaders🇺🇸
Different demographics due to geography.
Intent is the same.
Facilitated by the same entities.
Recent twitter of Kari Lake….
picture of Alex Soros with son of
Mexican Cartel Leader..Ruben Gallegos
hanging out together. And from what
the comment was….this was just one of
many visits between the two.
🤷♀️ 💁♀️ 🤷♀️
🇺🇸 🇺🇸 Keep America- English as first language 🇺🇸🇺🇸
😉 😉
Oh, I’ve been saying for years the left were in bed with the cartels. And they’re probably not the only ones. Politicians are dirty, corrupt and easily bought. There are no more statesmen.
In my view, our President is a Statesman in the making.
Not perfect, but certainly closer to it than the bozos we have in Congress.
“I will not comply.”
Very important words when tyranny is on the march.
No one is coming to free them (as we did in WWII) from the monster of despotism that the EU was always intended to be.
If President Trump hasn’t made it clear enough that it is solely in the hands of the populations of once free and sovereign European countries to break free of their chains, be it on their heads….if they can keep them.
And we must pray for this, because Western civilization hangs in the balance.
The moon god staking his claim. Notice it’s a solar eclipse. The moon is more powerful than the sun because the sun shines when it’s already daylight out but the moon can come out even during the day to block the sun.
Islam ripped off Babylonian imagery
The tree has many branches….
😁 😁
China and the EU have a choice about how they will respond to Trump’s tariffs. According to ZeroHedge, China has to decide now between: “(1) Concede defeat to whatever terms Trump demands, (2) Devalue the yuan by 20-40%, or (3) Unleash biggest fiscal stimulus in its history (talking $2-3 trillion) which will push its debt off the chart.”
The trade-surplus USA was in a similar position in 1933. We were the China of the day. That was why Smoot-Hawley in 1930 was a bad move for the United States (even though its tariff rates were only slightly higher than those of the Fordney-McCumber tariff of 1922 which it replaced). In 1932, the trade-deficit countries including Britain, responded to Smoot Hawley by placing high tariffs upon U.S. products, and, as a result, quickly got out of the Great Depression. (Trade-deficit countries win trade wars!)
In 1933, FDR tried option (2). He devalued the dollar from $35 per ounce of gold to $20.67 per ounce [and simultaneously made gold ownership illegal in the USA]. British economist John Meynard Keynes called it “the gold standard on the booze.” It didn’t work.
Keynes met with FDR and tried to persuade him to go with option (3), but FDR refused. Modern Keynesians believe that Keynes urged all countries, whether trade surplus or deficit, to engage in deficit spending to get out of depressions. This is not true. Keynes never advocated that trade-deficit Britain engage in massive deficit spending to get out of the Great Depression.
Whoops — I meant to write that FDR devalued the dollar from $20.67 per ounce to $35 per ounce, not the other way around.
And Biden from $2000 to $3150 in 4 years.
“Smoot-Hawley in 1930 was a bad move for the United States”
Martin Armstrong debunks that 1930’s Democratic blame game in one of his latest columns that I posted here:
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2025/04/06/april-6th-2025-presidential-politics-trump-administration-day-77/comment-page-1/#comment-11702340
“They” are still playing the blame game.
” Lessening that wealth was/is the goal of modern leftists; Barack Obama stated so openly in his, “share the wealth” worldview. ”
Barack the Dumb, the pie is only a certain size and must be shared. The grifters of the world do not understand capitalism. Capitalism can GROW the size of the pie. However, the grifters have to give up some grift to do that?
The world economy is not a zero-sum game.
I care about our country, the good ole USA. I care about the working people of this country.
Barack Obama stated so openly in his, “share the wealth” worldview.
Yes, any wealth that was not his own of course, like all these types.
Was just about to post the same. Hypocrisy much?
He meant share it with him, just as all other Leftists believe.
Hussein and his ilk have no intention of sharing anything, but they are trying to take what doesn’t belong to them.
Leftist Motto: “Share the wealth but not OUR personal wealth.”
They always steal from others to create their wealth but refuse to then share any of it.
The EU is finished, Just that quickly.
UncleGrumpy: The EU could collapse, tomorrow, if any member country or countries simply were to decide not to participate any longer. The EU has no military force, and if the EU were to respond militarily, its true purpose would only be made more clear.
150 something countries get tariffs, now that will be leveraged into 150 days of new trade deals (wins) in the news cycle. Each one compounding the good news until everyone realizes we are in a better place trade wise then we were before the tariffs. Once that happens the boom cycle begins. And a sustained boom cycle because of the new manufacturing jobs that boom our GDP for the next few decades. Out growing the federal debt while simultaneously refinancing it with the new sub 4% 10 year rates and cutting federal spending. And all the haters get egg all over their face once again. Hell of an American story in the making.
Good name and good comment
I ❤️ it!
🥂
Now this I understand fully😂
Anxiously awaiting Sundance’s take on the Musk/Navarro kurfuffel
Explanation for those like me:
https://www.semafor.com/article/04/05/2025/a-battle-elon-wont-win-elon-musk-takes-on-trumps-trade-guru-peter-navarro
That will give the media a new shiny object to talk about instead of “the sky is falling”. I really don’t see it as much of a big deal. It almost feels manufactured to give the media new talking points.
Musk is not impressed with Navarro’s Harvard PhD in economics (I am) and said that Navarro “ain’t built sh*t”. Navarro did go to prison for being loyal to PDJT.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/04/elon-musk-speaks-president-trumps-new-global-tariffs/
LOL, Elon Musk speaks to Navarro’s ego…….bit of serene obliviousness on Elon’s part what?
Musk has been very clear about his desire to expand “open trade” and to push for more H1b workers for his companies…he is doing good things with DOGE but he is NOT on the side of MAGA in all things and we should never forget that!
Pouvez-vous dire “Things are getting real!”
Translation: COMPRESS SILICA, LITTLE BOYTOY
Welcome to the real world.
Full translation below (Gemini 1.5, FWIW):
“I Don’t Give a Damn What Macron Says”: These French CEOs Are Ulcerated by the Call to Stop Investing in the United States
By Olivia Détroyat and Ivan Letessier
Published April 4, 2025 at 7:27 p.m., updated April 4, 2025 at 7:27 p.m.
The President of the Republic met with about fifty business leaders on Wednesday to ask them to suspend their investments in the United States.
The presidential injunction, the day after Donald Trump’s announcement of 20% customs duties on imports from Europe, has not convinced large groups with projects in the United States to stop everything.
“Some of us fell off our chairs,” confides one of the 50 or so French business leaders invited to the Élysée Palace late Thursday afternoon. The day after Donald Trump’s announcement of 20% customs duties on imports from Europe, the President of the Republic’s injunction to suspend all investment projects in the United States disconcerted major French bosses.
“We are not in a centrally planned economy,” exclaims the leader of a employers’ organization. And the CEO of a CAC 40 giant asserts bluntly: “I don’t give a damn what Macron says. We have operations in the United States. There is no question of abandoning them like that. We must respect our commitments to our employees, our customers, and our shareholders.” An opinion shared by a manager of a spirits producer: “It is out of the question to stop investing in the United States, especially in the current economic slump.”
Many French groups have indeed, in recent months, been counting on the United States to find a growth driver in the face of the sluggishness of their activity elsewhere in the world and their setbacks in the Chinese market. Pernod Ricard is thus building a bourbon distillery in Kentucky, a €240 million investment. Dior, for its part, plans to open a store in New York in two months, then another in Los Angeles. There is no question of suspending everything. It’s difficult to stop everything abruptly.
Maximum Pressure
However, neither at the Élysée Palace nor at Bercy (Ministry of Finance) do they intend to ease the pressure. “The president’s message will be conveyed to companies in which the state has holdings,” indicates the Ministry of Economy, emphasizing that Safran, Thales, Airbus, Engie, EDF Keolis, and RATP Développement have a strong presence across the Atlantic. All French companies will have to explain to the American authorities that the customs duties will weigh on their activity in the United States.
Throughout the day on Friday, the government wanted to explain things, while recalling the principle of freedom of enterprise dear to the President of the Republic and his pro-business character, which has so seduced big bosses for ten years. “We have entered a period of very strong economic and geopolitical predation,” underlines Éric Lombard’s office, the Minister of the Economy. Donald Trump wants to bring factories back to the United States, to the detriment of other geographical areas, particularly Europe. What we are asking companies to do is to act with discernment during this period. Announcing an investment now is giving credence to Trump and his destabilizing methods. The best thing to do is to show civic-mindedness by expressing doubts and emphasizing that the world must be stable to be prosperous.”
Finding the Right Balance
In the business world, some are understanding. “Everyone must do what they can at their level so that Europe’s position is as strong as possible” in the upcoming negotiations with the Trump administration, tempers Alexandre Saubot, the head of France Industrie. Many leaders invited to the Élysée Palace interpret the presidential request as a call to keep a low profile. “It’s not a call to leave the USA,” analyzes Emmanuel Guichard, the head of the Federation of Cosmetics Manufacturers (Febea). “This standby is mainly aimed at presenting a united front, and finding the right balance to manage the power struggle with Donald Trump, in a logic of de-escalation,” decrypts Gabriel Picard, president of the Federation of Wine and Spirits Exporters.
“It is certain that local investment projects are among the options on the table to adapt to the new customs situation in the United States,” explains Stanslay Miton, a business lawyer at Delson Avocats. Will they be implemented? Nothing is certain, but presidential injunctions will have nothing to do with it.
“French CEOs are, on the whole, ready to suspend their projects in the United States, with the exception, of course, of ongoing investments or tranches already planned,” confides Anton Molina, a partner at Plead and advisor to major CAC 40 bosses. They are realistic and also see that the multiples, in the case of US projects, are still too high compared to the activity.”
The Specter of Recession
A good connoisseur of the CAC 40 sums up the state of mind of the big bosses: “Companies see their interest above all,” he assures. They will take the time to analyze the subject. It is above all the situation of the American economy that could be dissuasive.” “Donald Trump is breaking everything that has been done since the end of the Second World War,” believes the CEO of a flagship French CAC 40 company. By eliminating free trade, he is going to cause a global recession.” And another agrees: “Trump’s hammer blow will create a chain reaction: countermeasures by the European Union, countermeasures by other trading partners, and diversions of trade flows to the domestic market.”
For French CEOs, the challenge is to know what the nature and extent of Europe’s response will be. “Any trade countermeasure of a similar magnitude to reciprocal tariffs would have a devastating cumulative effect and could pave the way for a trade escalation as large as the one that occurred in the 1930s,” warns a close associate of major French CEOs. We must therefore be careful about our tariff responses but also about possible countermeasures relating to digital services, intellectual property, or financial flows. We suggest a dual approach: well-calibrated trade countermeasures and a competitiveness response broken down into a productivity shock, an internal competitiveness shock, and an external competitiveness shock.”
In short, large companies therefore want Brussels to set its trade policy countermeasures at a level sufficient to send a real political signal, but which remains economically sustainable. “We have the means to force the United States to come to the negotiating table to lower tariffs on products imported from Europe,” assures Éric Lombard’s office.
The outcome of the negotiations will be crucial for French companies. “If the balance of power does not shift with the USA towards de-escalation, some will be ready to set up in the United States to benefit from cheap energy and the absence of local taxes,” assures an advisor to the CAC 40.
Thanks for this. It seems to be a standard French response: a combination of a public, “How dare you!” With a more behind the scenes shrug and acceptance that if PT won’t cave, they’ll probably just set up in the US. It’s interesting to read how absolutely ingrained in Europe is the belief that it’s nothing short of America’s responsibility to take financial hits to prop up the rest of the world, and doing anything else is simply reckless.
Thank you.
P.S.
If you had paragraphs and they disappeared after you posted, next time try double spacing all your paragraph breaks.
I used to have that issue with a certain computer/browser combination .
The egg on these AH’s faces is going to be so deep, it will surpass an omelette!
“France has usually been governed by prostitutes.
– Notebook #18, Feb.- Sept. 1879”
“And Smiley says, sorter indifferent like, “It might be a parrot, or it might be a canary, may be, but it an’t it’s only just a frog.”
And the feller took it, and looked at it careful, and turned it round this way and that, and says, “H’m so ’tis. Well, what’s he good for?”
“Well,” Smiley says, easy and careless, “He’s good enough for one thing, I should judge he can outjump any frog in Calaveras county.”
“exquisitely absurd is Mr Macron”
Good morning and I hope you like Mark Twain!
https://twain.lib.virginia.edu/projects/price/frog.htm
“France has neither winter, nor summer, nor morals. France is miserable because it is filled with Frenchmen, and Frenchmen are miserable because they live in France”.
Ah … you’ve stated what I thought – the reason why so many congress people want to make it so congress decides tariffs – grifters
Yes. They will accept bribes to decide the Winners and Losers.
Excellent, the veil of lobbying is ripped off for the graft that it is
Macron seems desperate.
Could it be that all road or at least a great number of roads lead to France and specifically Macron. Banking related to the Billions Biden sent to Ukraine, Economic Controls through Climate Change and the WEF.
Just a matter of time. It will all be exposed. Not tired of winning yet.
There is still a lot to do, most specifically at the DOJ and FBI. Heads need to roll at home as well. But heh, our VSGPDJT is not even at 100 days yet!
No, Starmer of England, even tho not technically in E U. tried to take the lead with his call for a “coalition of the willing” and failed, so Macron is desperate, as is German leader, ..
Took Marines right to run, her party registers 20,000 more members,..didn’t they learn anything?
Secretary Bessent was correct when he said, don’t look at what countries are doing look at what companies are doing.
EU has been living the life of California, buying into stupid leftist ideas they cannot afford but financed on the back of USA. Now EU will have to go cold turkey toward more rational existence. This will cause significant social upheaval hopefully toward more freedom for EU citizens.
The french never let logic get in the way of their love life.
Macron’s mother/wife agrees with that statement.
‘Brigitte’ is his cross-dressing husband and former schoolteacher, not his
wife/mother.
When Macron doesn’t know what to say in public, he looks over to ‘Brigitte’
for his answer.
Simply put, France’s soc-com rulers have run out of fakery.
It’s called a reality check, American style.
No more pretending allowed, get a grip and live like normal people do.
I wish the French patriots luck, but after that debauchery at the Olympics, God probably has some fun in store for the evil doers.
Macron is clinging by le thread and needs to demonize PDT, like Carney. French businessmen understand they will prosper with President Trump.
Weasel.
Macron wants to know, King Charles…Cake or Death? Shoulda handed it off to Wills…truth is, Camilla’s the only one in the bunch with any balls AND the least horrible human in the pile, she never pretended to be anything she wasn’t, still happy to be the opportunistic pariah
we all knew and despised
Macron is the kind of leader many countries are very happy NOT to have!
The old “cut off your nose to spite your face” strategy….
It’s long past time to eliminate socialism….By cutting off it’s funding….
Great work President Trump! Very well done…
Show them…
NO MERCY!
Anyone know how to say FAFO in French?
The internet says, “déconne et tu verras” which roughly means “mess around and you’ll see the consequences.”
Another translation could be “glander et te rendre compte,” which means “slack off and realize the consequences.”
Both translations convey the idea of experiencing negative outcomes from irresponsible behavior.
Sounds better in English. But then one of Orwell’s rules for good writing was alwsys to use an Anglo-Saxon word over the Latin.
And you don’t get more A-S than f#%@.
Baiser et découvrir.
🥸
A truly American response given by a truly American icon – Mickey Mouse.
Stay the course.
Reportedly, Britains PM,, Starmer has already capitulated, saying “Globullism is dead” and he is ready to make a deal with the U.S. on tariffs.
Suddenly, Brexit that was ubdermined to the point of in name only, becomes important because no longer being in E.U., they can negoytiate a bilateral agreenent.
How long before EU members similarly tell Brussels ti stuff it?
All, the only individual I will trust when it comes to the global economy is Martin Armstrong and I will never argue with Socrates. Martin not only teaches how the world really works, he also brings the facts!
Politicians are masters of politics NOT economics.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/trade-war/why-is-trump-using-tariffs-the-truth-that-has-misled-the-world-on-tariffs/
MACRON, YOU IGNORANT SLUT!!!!!!!!!
What did the Mayor of Paris say to the Nazi General as he marched his troops down the Champs-Élysées on June 14, 1940?
Table for 80,000, Monsieur?
Je regrette, we don’t serve cochon here.
Every night at 7:00 p.m. I stand on my balcony and applaud President Trump…. My Front Line hero.
All he’s asking from us is 2 weeks to flatten the tariff curve. And if it takes a little longer than that, we must be patient ….for the greater good.
Maybe it is GOOD TIME to repeat what Trump wrote on Truth Social YESTERDAY about FRANCE! Amazing Timing President Trump!
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
The Witch Hunt against Marine Le Pen is another example of European Leftists using Lawfare to silence Free Speech, and censor their Political Opponent, this time going so far as to put that Opponent in prison. It is the same “playbook” that was used against me by a group of Lunatics and Losers, like Norm Eisen, Andrew Weissmann, and Lisa Monaco. They spent the last nine years thinking of nothing else, and they FAILED, because the People of the United States realized that they were only Corrupt Lawyers and Politicians. I don’t know Marine Le Pen, but do appreciate how hard she worked for so many years. She suffered losses, but kept on going, and now, just before what would be a Big Victory, they get her on a minor charge that she probably knew nothing about – Sounds like a “bookkeeping” error to me. It is all so bad for France, and the Great French People, no matter what side they are on. FREE MARINE LE PEN!
“like Norm Eisen, Andrew Weissmann, and Lisa Monaco”
It is reassuring that he is naming names that the MSM keeps hush about.
Lunatics and losers!!!!! So descriptive of them all!
PDJT certainly has a way with words.
They are all criminal seditionist scumbags.
Marine LePen is the modern day Joan d’Arc.
She is fighting against globalism to retain French culture.
Maybe we are witnessing the 2nd French Revolution.
US offshored manufacturing because US law allowed it to take advantage of cheaper labor (from 3rd world countries…now, why is it cheap?) and then reimport product back to the US without tariff. What the companies escaped in that process was EPA, DOL, AFL/CIO, workman’s comp, and sundry other overhead expenses–not all desirable, but ALL part of the US fabric of operations that ALL US sourced manufacturers have to carry–with all of the upside of selling to the world’s best consumer.
US law allowed companies to do this. Had the law not allowed it, it would not have happened. Call the owners of the companies any name you want, but when their competition goes offshore LEGALLY, they will lose market share and eventually go bust. So, the LAW was the destiny, regardless of what owners wanted to do.
So, in this case, it reverses. When the law orders an equitable marketplace, companies will respond to align their profit machines accordingly.
“So, the LAW was the destiny, regardless of what owners wanted to do.”
I know of a few companies that wanted to keep all their production in the USA, but were forced to either go overseas or close.
And don’t forget frivolous lawsuits that Tort reform would have ended
Love it! I spoke to our company as well as an Automotive Industry lobbyist prior to the election of our Texas Speaker, and they couldn’t care less about what the “right” person to elect on a values basis, their only criteria was to elect whoever would retain business as normal.
Wait until Trump starts reducing US military presence in Europe, a much needed adjustment of the US military. The French bureaucrats will have to start paying for their own military or continue their outrageous welfare programs and have no military. They need to stand on their own. The American taxpayer is tired of supporting their countries. Never much of a fan of anything French food, clothing or otherwise. It’s 2025 not 1825 France is in no position to dictate anything to the US.
True.
In the long run all the EU countries will find themselves improved by being forced into responsibility.
Life without it always degrades horribly.
Long live American 🍟
WATCH | Donald Trump cooks French fries, serves customers at Pennsylvania McDonalds
😜(France Fried)
Oh Dear!!! They’re gonna need bigger band aids…
This is hilarious – telling Macron to “get stuffed.” hahahaha
Wealthy Europeans and their businesses ain’t goin’ down with “the ship” regardless of what their respective leaders have planned
What Trump set in motion will continue to have a massive ripple effect, and flyover is America is SO here for the day the “serf” becomes the “master”
Time for yellow-vest nation to “fight, fight, fight!” for Le Pen like MAGA fought for Trump
There are some countries that know how to negotiate. Macron thinks he looks like a tough guy…he is not.
“Trump Was Right: More than 50 Countries Have Already Contacted White House to Negotiate Trade and Tariffs”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/04/winning-more-than-50-countries-have-contacted-white/
Lobbying needs banning, outlawing, and those caught doing it, jailed.
Kick ALL lobbyists out of Washington DC. Give them 24 hours to GET OUT ! If they don’t leave, round them up and fly them to El Salvador and imprison them with the worst in the big maximum security prison there.
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“Lobbying” is bribery, and it is in fact a crime. But there is nothing that any politician covets more than money.
Tell it (dare ) to AIPAC friends……
The wicked accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the ways of justice.
Proverbs 17:23
I would prefer the House Reps spent their time IN THEIR DISTRICTS to make lobbying more visible and difficult to accomplish. A side benefit would be perhaps they would be better representatives of those who actually elected them.
If House Reps actually spent most of their time in their districts, lobbying would be more visible, harder to pull off, and maybe—just maybe—they’d start representing the people who actually elected them.
It’s easy to get captured by the D.C. bubble when you live in it. But when you’re surrounded by your voters instead of lobbyists, your priorities tend to shift.
And if we’re serious about rebalancing power, maybe it’s time to talk about overturning the 17th Amendment too. Letting state legislatures appoint U.S. Senators—like the Constitution originally intended—would shift loyalty back to the states and the people, and away from national party machines and billionaire-backed campaigns.
Bring the representatives home. Put the Senators back in the hands of the states. That would break a lot of the incentive structure behind the corruption.
NO opening up of the Constitution for our own Communists to overturn the whole thing in the opening seconds of the ‘convention’. NO WAY! America would be OVER in the opening seconds of that ruse!
Well, you know Congress would never do it, so it would have to be an Article 5 Convention.
Always remember, ANY amendment to the Constitution MUST be ratified by two thirds of the states.
Now which party controls two thirds of the states? Remember, each state only gets one vote.
Easy…
Not all lobbying is elite-driven or foreign-influenced. There are plenty of Main Street businesses who have to lobby just to stay in the game. They’re not trying to game the system—they’re trying to survive it.
For them, lobbying isn’t about buying influence—it’s about making sure D.C. doesn’t forget they exist while global megafirms and foreign interests flood the zone with cash, consultants, and connections.
.
First Amendment permits American citizens to lobby their government for a redress of grievances. So we can’t ban “lobbying” (which is what that is), but we do need to clamp down on FOREIGN lobbying, and in this day and age of global investing and international corporations, on Congresser conflicts of interest. It won’t be easy while the same Congressers make the laws.
.
And those caught accepting the bribes of lobbyists should be tried and (if proven guilty) punished for treason.
If “Occupy” was a SINCERE effort, the disruption would have occurred on K street.
It never did, so I knew that it was bullshit from the start.
The adults are now in the room.