France, Germany seek new EU rapid response tool against trade threats
France and Germany proposed a new legal tool to enable the EU to respond rapidly to trade wars or measures, such as dumping, that could economically harm the bloc. While French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the proposal was not a direct response to the actions of any particular country, it came days before EU Chief Ursula von der Leyen visits China to tackle t
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have urged the European Union to develop a new legal arsenal to respond faster to any potential trade war with China, according to a letter seen by AFP on Monday.
While it stopped short of explicitly naming the Asian giant, the letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was sent just days before the EU trade commissioner heads to Beijing to tackle trade frictions.
"We need a credible instrument in the hands of the Commission" for decisive action, including the ability to cut off access to the European single market "if needed", Macron and Merz wrote.
The proposed weapon could be deployed in a trade war, for example if a country were to cut off supplies to critical raw materials.
If that happened, "the EU must be able to inflict damage comparable to that being done to us", a German government source said.
The United States and China could retaliate faster and more robustly in any trade war, the source said, warning that the EU's tools were not "as effective".
Germany and France want to give the Commission the power to respond to a trade aggression within days. Under their proposal, such action would not need approval from the EU's 27 countries, though a weighted majority of states could block it.
Merz and Macron are expected to present their ideas at an EU leaders' summit next week in Brussels.
The new tool could be used against any country but the EU's biggest trade concern is its deficit with China, which Brussels says is inflicting damage on key European sectors.
