PARIS: Donald Trump on Monday threatened 200 per cent tariffs on French wine and champagne over France's intentions to decline the US leader's invitation to join his Board of Peace.
The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of war-torn Gaza, but the charter does not appear to limit its role to the occupied Palestinian territory.
"I'll put a 200 per cent tariff on his wines and champagnes. And he'll join. But he doesn't have to join," Trump said, referring to French President Emmanuel Macron.
A source close to Macron told AFP on Monday said that France "does not intend to answer favorably" to the invitation. The board's charter "goes beyond the sole framework of Gaza", the source said.
US President Donald Trump's threats to impose 200 percent tariffs on French wine and champagne are "unacceptable" and "ineffective," a source close to French President Emmanuel Macron told AFP on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron has sent a private message to Donald Trump offering to organise a G7 summit in Paris on Thursday in which Russia could be invited on the sidelines.
Trump posted this message on his Truth Social network in which Macron also proposes inviting Ukraine to the meeting as well as Denmark to discuss disagreements over Greenland.
The offer comes as Europe is weighing countermeasures after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on eight European countries in a bid to pressure the European Union over Greenland.
"My friend, we are totally in line on Syria. We can do great things on Iran. I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland," Macron had said in his message.
"I can set up a G7 meeting after Davos in Paris on Thursday afternoon," Macron wrote, referring to the gathering of global elites in Switzerland where the US president is set to be in attendance.
"I can invite the Ukrainians, the Danish, the Syrians and the Russians in the margins" of the meeting, he added.