France’s trade deficit has widened in the first half, under the effect of a clear increase in imports, even before the final entry into the new American customs duties.
Over the first six months of 2025, the trade deficit reached 43 billion euros in the first half of 2025, a deterioration of 4.4 billion euros compared to the second half of 2024, due to an increase in imports which exceeds that of exports, according to customs.
These data are unveiled Thursday, August 7, the same day of the implementation by Donald Trump of customs duties imposed by the United States on dozens of savings, establishing a new commercial deal worldwide.
According to this data, on the second quarter alone, France’s deficit stood at 22.9 billion, a deterioration of 2.8 billion euros compared to the first quarter of 2025.
This is explained by a drop in energy prices and electricity exports in value and by a decline in exports of aeronautical products and ships and boats, detail customs.
And as an example, imports of pharmaceutical products increase clearly in the second quarter to reach their “highest historic level”.
This is a “real alert signal,” said the Minister of Foreign Trade, Laurent Saint-Martin, in an interview with the newspaper the worldabout the degradation of the trade balance.
Since the provisional implementation of American surcharge in April, the evolution of French exports to the United States “does not allow for the moment to identify a manifest effect of customs duties”, nor of “significant decrease” of France exports to the United States compared to the same period in 2024, note customs.
If the impact of American surcharge is not “readable in figures”, they will first affect American consumers who will be the “first victims”, said Laurent Saint-Martin, deploring a “double threat” with “a loss of exports to the United States and weakened global growth”.
New deal
The surcharge is in a large fork, between 15 % and 41 %. The European Union (EU), Japan or South Korea, which are among the main trade partners of the United States, are now affected by a rate of at least 15 %.
“We are confident in the fact that aeronautics will be exempt from these taxes and, in the coming weeks, we will try to snatch additional exemptions,” also said Laurent Saint-Martin.
In the field of exports to the United States, France is less exposed than other countries of the European Union, but champions of the food and luxury will be particularly affected by surcharge.
In value, it is by far Germany which within the EU exports the most goods to the United States, for an amount of 161.2 billion euros in 2024, followed by Ireland and Italy, respectively 72 and 64 billion euros, according to Eurostat data.
Customs also raise an increase in French imports from China, Southeast Asia, Mexico and Canada which “raises the question of a possible postponement to France and the EU of part of the exports of these countries”.
In the first half of 2025, French imports from China and Hong Kong, Mexico and Canada, increased by 9 % over one year, in particular imports of pharmaceutical products from China which have more than doubled in value (1.175 billion euros, against 522 million euros in the first half of 2024).
“China seems to have reoriented part of its exports intended in the United States to the rest of the world,” said customs, also mentioning a 11 % drop in China exports to the United States between the first half of 2024 and 2025, according to Chinese customs data.