"If the American administration rejects the hand that has been held out by France and the European Union, we are preparing ourselves to react with sanctions," said Le Maire.

The United States on Wednesday said it would slap 10% tariffs on European-made Airbus planes and 25% duties on French wine, Scotch and Irish whiskies, and cheese from across the continent as punishment for illegal EU aircraft subsidies.

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Writing by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)