French Finance Minister Roland Lescure isn’t mincing words. Speaking at OECD meetings in Paris on June 4, he called the latest US tariff proposal “unjustified” for the European Union and urged both sides to stop dancing around the Turnberry agreement and actually implement it.
The tariffs in question, announced just a day earlier on June 3, would impose levies of at least 10% on imports tied to forced labor concerns. They target goods from approximately 60 economies.
What the Turnberry agreement actually is
The Turnberry agreement is the EU-US trade accord that was initiated back in July 2025. Lescure’s core argument is straightforward: businesses need visibility and predictability. You can’t plan factory output, supply chains, or investment cycles when the tariff landscape shifts every few weeks.
The European Commission has backed this position, reaffirming its commitment to the existing trade agreement while dismissing the rationale behind the new tariff proposals.
