By Charles Pemu 
President Donald Trump took an unexpected and abrupt swipe at France during a Monday interview with US broadcaster Fox News, publicly declaring, “we’ve had a lot of problems with the French.”
The surprising comment came during a discussion about Chinese students in US universities. When the Fox News presenter suggested Chinese students unlike the French were actively spying and stealing US intellectual property, Trump interjected to question France’s standing: “Do you think the French are better, really? I will tell you, I’m not so sure.”
President Trump, who has been heavily focused on his trade disputes with Beijing, quickly shifted the core of his complaint to France’s taxation policies.
“We’ve had a lot of problems with the French where we get taxed unfairly on our technology,” Trump asserted.
This statement aligns with the Trump administration’s long-standing opposition to France’s Digital Services Tax (DST), often referred to as the “GAFA Tax.” The US views this tax, which is levied on the revenue of large technology companies, as discriminatory and a direct burden on American commerce. Trump has previously threatened to impose “substantial” extra tariffs on countries implementing similar “discriminatory” digital taxes.
Friction Despite Macron ‘Bromance’
The verbal attack introduces a new layer of friction into Trump’s often highly publicized, yet tense, relationship with French President Emmanuel Macron. While the two leaders have shared high-profile displays of mutual backslapping and muscular handshakes, they have frequently clashed on policy.
Trump has opposed Macron on issues ranging from climate policy to the recognition of a Palestinian state. The French leader is also a key figure in the European effort to encourage the US to maintain its military support for Ukraine and to pressure European nations to step up their own NATO defense funding.
The original context of the interview was Trump’s administration’s conflicting signals regarding foreign students, particularly Chinese nationals, highlighting an area of back-and-forth policy that the US President quickly rerouted toward European trade grievances.