Lombard said that if the trade war degenerates and has a negative impact on France’s economic growth, the government plans to accept the fact that its deficit for this year will get worse and reduce expenses or increase taxes to prevent it.
“Even if the situation is getting worse, I do not want to reduce public spending more,” said Lombard, excluding tax increases.
France had aimed to bring its budget deficit to 5.4% of the gross domestic product this year, against 5.8% in 2024. The country is already faced with an excessive deficit procedure in Brussels after having violated the EU spending rules in 2023 which prevent Member States from operating deficits of more than 3% of the GDP.
Politices
