Macron has once again made tough statements to us! On December 17th, according to foreign media reports, French President Macron claimed that imposing tariffs and setting quotas on imported goods from China is an uncooperative response to the trade imbalance between China and the EU. It is now urgent to rebalance Sino-European trade and called for both sides to take measures.

Macron said that the EU must address competitiveness issues and promote innovation, while China should adopt more favorable fiscal policies to boost domestic consumption and increase investments in Europe. Either we re-balance our economic relations in a cooperative way - establishing a genuine partnership among China, the US, and the EU - or Europe will have no choice but to take more protectionist measures. I prefer cooperation, but if necessary, I would also advocate for the latter.

Evidently, Macron's remarks are very firm. What Macron means is that we must take action to balance Sino-European trade. Not only does Macron require us to do so, but he also pointed out two directions for us: first, to expand domestic consumption, and second, to increase investment in Europe. Of course, it must be noted that we are indeed in a trade surplus position with Europe, but in fact, we do not deliberately pursue a trade surplus.

For example, European fashion, perfumes, high-end machinery, airplanes, and pharmaceuticals all have huge market demand in China. Obviously, France cannot ignore this. Furthermore, regarding the issue of expanding domestic demand, we have been doing it already, which does not need France to comment. The request from France for us to increase investment in Europe is not a big issue, but there are two things that France must face.

The first is that France must provide a non-discriminatory business environment and relax investment review restrictions, and should not arbitrarily block normal investment activities by Chinese companies under the pretext of national security. The second is that whether Chinese companies invest in Europe should be decided by the market, and forced investment must not be imposed. It must be pointed out that it is normal for there to be differences between China and the EU, but coercion is certainly not the correct way for Europe to deal with us. If France provokes a trade conflict, we will not be polite either.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1851754704589962/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.