Interview: The EU-US trade agreement "reveals Europe's weakness," says the president of France Industrie.

For French and European industry, is the agreement on customs duties reached on Sunday between the European Union and the United States good or bad?

"There are good and bad aspects, depending on the sector. A large sector like aeronautics appears largely exempt, while steel and mechanics are likely to suffer. The main merit of this agreement is that it sets a framework. But it is an unbalanced agreement that reveals Europe's very great weakness . There are still things to clarify, and we hope that Europe will be able to fight for its industry.

So it's an agreement largely dictated by Donald Trump ...

"I wasn't involved in the negotiation, but when I see the result, the fact is that Donald Trump was able to advance his cause ."

Could this imbalance lead French and European industrialists to invest more in the United States and less in Europe?

"That's the whole problem with this imbalance. When you impose customs duties on both sides, you're supposed to recover at home what you lose on the other side. But here, in the absence of reciprocal customs duties, the European market gets no protection against American products in exchange for what Europe risks losing on the American market. Because a less accessible American market risks leading certain manufacturers to produce more in the United States, to sell better locally, with no guarantee that the European market can absorb what they were producing in Europe for the United States. With the risk, therefore, of a drop in production in Europe... Afterwards, everything also depends on the simplification and competitiveness agenda that Europe will or will not be able to adopt in the coming weeks. This is all the more urgent since the fall in the value of the dollar is penalizing European products."

Would you agree with some analysts that the main trade threat for Europe is China, before the United States?

"The real question is whether Europe wants to be industrial and sovereign, and if so, it must be able to protect itself against all commercially aggressive actions. With the United States, we have this problem of an unbalanced agreement. With China, it's a problem of commercial aggressiveness in certain sectors, which calls for safeguard measures, targeted customs duties, which Europe should use more."

But last week's EU-China summit was not exactly a success...

"This is a new illustration of the rapid transformation that is being imposed on Europe in the world as it is emerging: a much more conflictual world in which Europe must be able to assert its interests, particularly industrial ones."