Not just French companies, companies in multiple EU countries (from the article). And it’s only applicable if they want to do business with the US. This behaviour is pretty normal for them - they used to have policies about not buying from companies that used child labour, or didn’t enforce DEI etc. They’re just enforcing a different set of standards for their suppliers now.

I’m not saying it’s not messed up, just that it’s not unusual and shouldn’t surprise anyone.