"With Germany, we are determined to work on an independent European or Franco-German financing tool which would allow us to avoid being the collateral victims of US extraterritorial sanctions," Le Maire said during a meeting with the press association AJEF.
"If we want to build a truly independent instrument, we must open up all the options," Le Maire stressed, referring to French and German governments holding talks on the matter with their central banks.
The statement came a day after German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas urged Europe to respond to the US's "random and non-specific sanctions" against Russia, China, Turkey and other "important" trading partners of the EU.
He admitted that strengthening "the autonomy and sovereignty of Europe in trade, economic and financial policies" will be a tricky task, but added that "we have already begun to do it."
"We are working on proposals pertaining to […] payment channels and creating a payment system independent of SWIFT to establish a European currency fund,” Maas underlined, Sputnik reported.
Earlier, he pointed out in an article published by the German business newspaper Handelsblatt that if Europe wants to save the Iran nuclear agreement, it should review its partnership with the US and create an EU payment system to serve as a "counterweight" to the US, whenever Washington "crosses red lines."
His remarks came after the EU pledged to counter renewed US sanctions on Tehran to save the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was abandoned by Washington in early May.
SPUTNIK/MNA