France’s love affair with trade barriers stretches back more than a century, ranging from the Méline tariff in 1892 that slapped taxes on imported foods to jibes about the country’s so-called “strategic yoghurt” policy in 2005 when Danone faced a US takeover threat.
Trade skeptics and protectionists have charged that trade agreements like NAFTA and the U.S.-Korea trade agreement favor foreign producers and have contributed to the U.S. trade deficit.