Macron urges Europe to protect industry, warns of growing dependence on China

French President Emmanuel Macron called on Wednesday for stronger European trade protection and greater investment, warning that dependence on China and fossil fuels threatens the continent’s competitiveness.

Speaking in Spain, Macron urged Europe to boost innovation, simplify regulations, increase funding and protect industrial manufacturers from unfair competition.

“China has completely flooded the European market. For decades, we told ourselves: Very well, China is a big market for us Europeans. We need China. That is true. We transferred a lot of technology, sold a lot and still do to some extent,” he said.

He accused China of heavily subsidising companies and engaging in dumping to eliminate competitors.

“Today, as we speak, we Europeans have a trade deficit with China of 1 billion euros every day,” he added.

Macron called for faster European Commission investigations, stronger trade defence instruments and requirements ensuring imports meet the same standards imposed on European producers.

On energy, he warned that decarbonisation had not eliminated Europe’s vulnerabilities.

“Today, we remain very dependent on fossil fuels. We can see this clearly with what is happening in the Strait of Hormuz, which poses a problem for our economic models. Even countries that have made considerable progress in decarbonisation, such as Spain and France, each following its own path, still have these dependencies,” Macron stressed.

He called for stronger electricity interconnections and greater investment in artificial intelligence, quantum technology and defence.

“We Europeans have more savings than the Americans. These savings go to our banks and insurance companies. Because we set extremely restrictive rules after a financial crisis that began with American market participants, we over-regulated our banks and insurers,” the French president continued.

Macron sought an easing of financial rules to channel savings into investment, along with a stronger EU budget and deeper single market integration.