French President Emmanuel Macron pushing Europe into $900 billion fight with China

The European Union’s new, tougher approach to China is being shaped by French concerns that Beijing’s trade practices have started to pose a critical threat to core industries.

The government in Paris has taken a key role in driving the policy shift, according to people familiar with its thinking, calculating that inaction now would put the bloc’s economy on a path to long-term damage. Officials speaking on condition of anonymity recalled the solar industry debacle a decade ago, when cheap imports from China gutted European production. One of the officials said Europe’s auto industry could potentially be vulnerable in the same way and so the EU faces a binary choice: Either it affirms its power or submits to China.

The intention isn’t to turn Europe’s $900 billion-a-year trading relationship with China into a head-to-head battle like Beijing has with the US, but rather to establish a level playing field among the world's largest economic blocs, the officials added.


French President Emmanuel Macron wants his EU partners to see Europe as a balancing force between the world’s two economic superpowers, one official said. That would allow Paris and other capitals to cultivate special relationships with other potential allies such as India.

Still, the EU's tougher stance has also provoked nervousness, with even officials in Paris concerned about what it means to turn French principles into practice.

One described Beijing's response to the opening of an investigation into Chinese subsidies for electric vehicles as a worrying over-reaction, while another acknowledged the risk of a trade war.