US media: Macron urges EU to take the harshest trade measures against China
Bloomberg quoted sources as reporting that if European leaders cannot find a solution to Beijing's plan to impose export controls on key raw materials, French President Emmanuel Macron has called on them to consider taking the harshest trade measures against China.
According to the sources: "Macron said that they (European leaders) need to weigh all available action plans against China, including the so-called EU counter-coercion tool."
It is reported that Macron made this call to European leaders at Thursday's EU summit and told reporters after the summit that Beijing's actions constitute "economic coercion" and that there needs to be "an opportunity to respond."
Bloomberg reported that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz confirmed that counter-coercion measures were discussed at the summit, but no decisions have been made yet.
Bloomberg pointed out that the EU's counter-coercion tool has never been used before, and once used, it could greatly escalate tensions between the EU and China.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced on October 9 that starting from November 08, it will implement export controls on a series of key items such as superhard materials, rare earth equipment and raw materials, some medium and heavy rare earths, as well as lithium batteries and artificial graphite anode materials.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1846847598993432/
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