France and allies call for EU trade defence tool to fend off China

The EU should more assertively defend itself against major global competitors, a group of countries led by France has said in a policy paper seen by Euractiv just days before a major strategy debate on China inside the European Commission. 

As part of efforts to offer Europe’s industry – battered by the pandemic and multiple energy crisis – better means to compete with China’s state-backed firms, the call for a much more robust EU trade policy comes from France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Lithuania.

The rules-based trading system is “being undermined by a variety of actors and the rise of unfair trade practices,” the group agrees.

In response, Europe “should explore the opportunity to develop a broader, cross-sector trade defence tool”, the paper argues. By citing national security concerns linked to, say, China’s chokehold on a given rare earth, the bloc “could implement measures such as additional duties or TRQs, in order to protect European producers”. 

TRQs, better known as quotas, have long been a favoured trade instrument in Paris.

On Friday, 29 May, the European Commission’s top brass will hold a debate on the bloc’s long-term strategy for dealing with China. In 2025, the EU’s trade deficit with China hit €360 billion, up a fifth from the year prior.

French President Emmanuel Macron has already proposed US-style “protective measures, safeguard measures”, akin to the “Section 301” tariffs unilaterally imposed by Washington on Chinese steel over intellectual property law violations.

Paris and Berlin have repeatedly come to blows over the EU’s trade policy vis-a-vis China – notably, neither Germany or Poland have signed up to the French non-paper. 

(jp)