France Urges Tariff Barriers to Stop China From Killing Industry | Company Business News-OxBig News Network

French Finance Minister Eric Lombard said Europe must shore up its tariff barriers to counter Chinese imports that risk harming the continent’s industrial economy. 

Europe has already taken action on steel and automobiles, but rules must be changed to allow the wider use of measures against imports from China, Lombard said. 

“In the world we are in today, we must protect our industry,” Lombard said on Saturday at an economics conference in Aix-en-Provence, France. “We must do it on all industrial segments, otherwise the Chinese policy that consists of having a production capacity of more than 50% global market share in each sector will kill our industry.” 

His comments underscore growing concerns in Paris that US President Donald Trump’s efforts to redraw global trade flows risk hitting Europe on several fronts, and not just because of potential tariffs on exports to the US. 

China announced anti-dumping duties on European brandy on Friday while exempting major cognac makers that agreed to minimum price levels. The action followed the EU’s decision in 2024 to levy duties as high as 45% on Chinese-made electric vehicles. 

In another sign of the tension between Europe and Beijing, the Chinese government intends to shorten a two-day summit with European Union leaders this month to just a day, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

Speaking to Bloomberg on Friday at the Aix-en-Provence event, French Industry Minister Marc Ferracci also called for Europe to ramp up its defenses against Chinese imports. 

“Another phenomenon that is concerning is the redirection of Chinese flows which were targeted to the US, and that are now coming to Europe,” Ferracci said. “China has built over-capacities in a wide array of industries and that makes it quite sensitive and quite dangerous for our industries.” 

Lombard said the new government coalition in Germany is an opportunity for Paris and Berlin to work more closely together. He’ll meet with his counterparts there in the coming weeks. 

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.