Paris (France) (AFP) – Emmanuel Macron threatens China with customs duties “in the coming months” if Beijing does not take measures to reduce the constantly widening trade deficit with the European Union.

Published on: 07/12/2025 - 11:51

A few days after a state visit to China, the tone is rising with Beijing. In an interview given to Les Échos on Sunday, President Emmanuel Macron threatens Chinese products with customs duties if an agreement is not found to reduce the trade deficit between the second world power and the European Union.

Also read: What to remember from Emmanuel Macron's visit to China

“I told them that, if they did not react, we Europeans would be forced, in the coming months, to take strong measures (...) like the United States, such as customs duties on Chinese products,” declared the French president, returning from an official trip to China, in an interview in the French daily Les Echos, published on Sunday.

Washington imposes high customs tariffs on Chinese products, which have however been reduced from 57% to 47% as part of an agreement announced at the end of October between the two countries.

“China is hitting the heart of the European industrial and innovation model, historically based on machine tools and automobiles,” notes Emmanuel Macron.

And the Trump administration's protectionism is only making things worse. “It increases our problems by redirecting Chinese flows massively on our markets,” highlights the French president.

“Today we are caught between the two and it is a question of life and death for European industry,” he laments.

But he remains aware that the formation of a common European front on the issue is not easy, with Germany, very present in China, being "not yet completely on our line".

During his visit to China, Emmanuel Macron reiterated that Europe, to reduce its trade deficit with China, must accept Chinese investments.

Also read: Emmanuel Macron ends his visit to China on a more relaxed note

“We cannot constantly import. Chinese companies must come to European soil,” he argues in Les Echos.

Around ten sectors are concerned, including batteries, lithium refining, wind power, photovoltaics, electric vehicles, air-air heat pumps, consumer electronics products, recycling technologies, industrial robotics and even advanced components.

But Chinese investments in Europe “must not be predatory, that is to say be made for the purposes of hegemony and the creation of dependencies”, underlines Emmanuel Macron.

For its part, according to him, the EU must protect itself in the most vulnerable sectors - such as the automobile sector in the face of the steamroller of Chinese electric vehicles - and at the same time "reengage a competitiveness policy".

This involves “simplification, the deepening of the single market, investments in innovation, fair protection of our borders, a successful completion of our customs union (...) and an adjusted monetary policy,” he explains.

(AFP)

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