Macron Urges Xi to Narrow ‘Unsustainable’ Trade Gap
Udumbara
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French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Beijing to rebalance the trade relationship after meetings with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.
“Europe and China have a role to play in laying, alongside other partners, the foundations for fair and robust global economic governance based on rules and not the law of the strongest,” Macron said at a joint press conference with Xi on Dec. 4.
Macron said the European Union should undertake reforms to enhance its competitiveness. China, he said, should work to boost domestic consumption while increasing its direct investment in the EU, particularly in France.
“The imbalances that are accumulating today are unsustainable,” Macron said. “They pose a risk of financial crises. They imperil our ability to grow together.”
Macron is on a three-day visit to China. A focus of his trip is to address France’s trade deficit with China, which has almost doubled over the past decade.
During the meeting, Xi pledged to import more “high-quality products” made in France and encouraged Macron to strengthen cooperation with China in areas such as aerospace, artificial intelligence, and biopharmaceuticals, according to China’s summary of the meeting.
Officials from the two countries signed 12 cooperation agreements covering nuclear energy, agricultural products, education, and other fields.
After the summit, Xi and Macron also attended the closing ceremony of the China–France Business Council meeting.
Addressing business representatives from both countries, Xi said China views France as “an important and indispensable economic and trade partner,” according to the CCP’s foreign ministry.
In encouraging France to promote cooperation between China and the EU, Xi said that “interdependency” and “convergent interests” are not a risk or threat, according to the ministry.
Earlier this year, the CCP introduced stringent export controls on rare earths and other critical metals, disrupting global supply chains vital to the EU’s semiconductor and auto industries, and sparking calls in Brussels to reduce reliance on China.
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Ukraine
Macron also sought to persuade the CCP to support a cease-fire in Ukraine.Speaking alongside Xi after the bilateral meeting, Macron reiterated the appeal, saying that he hoped China could join the EU’s efforts to achieve “at the earliest possibility, at the very least a cease-fire in the form of a moratorium on strikes targeting critical infrastructure.”
Xi offered no clear assurance, saying only that Beijing supports a fair and binding agreement that can be reached by all parties regarding the Ukraine crisis.
In an apparent reference to the West’s criticism over the CCP’s aid of Russia’s war efforts, Xi said that Beijing opposes any “attempt to shift blame or smear others.”
