Overview
- In an interview published Sunday, Emmanuel Macron warned that Europeans could impose tariffs on Chinese goods in the coming months if Beijing fails to act on its trade surplus with the EU.
- He said US tariffs, trimmed from 57% to 47% in October, are diverting Chinese exports toward Europe, which he described as a life-or-death challenge for European industry.
- Macron acknowledged that any tariff action requires an EU-wide decision and noted that Germany is not yet fully aligned with France’s position.
- Seeking to rebalance trade, he urged more Chinese production in Europe under strict safeguards to avoid predatory investments, citing sectors such as batteries, lithium refining, solar, wind, EVs, heat pumps, consumer electronics, recycling tech, robotics and advanced components.
- He called for EU measures to protect vulnerable sectors like autos and to relaunch competitiveness through single market deepening, innovation spending, customs union completion and an adjusted monetary stance, while reporting only preliminary advances on autos and nuclear from his China visit.