<\/p>\n
France’s president Emmanuel Macron<\/p>\n
(Bloomberg) — French President Emmanuel Macron told European Union leaders to consider using the bloc\u2019s most powerful trade tool against China if they aren\u2019t able to find a resolution to Beijing\u2019s planned export controls on critical raw materials.<\/p>\n
Most Read from Bloomberg<\/p>\n
Macron said they need to weigh using all options available against China, including the EU\u2019s so-called anti-coercion instrument, according to people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n
He made the statement to his counterparts during a leaders\u2019 summit in Brussels Thursday, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The French presidency didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is economic coercion,\u201d Macron told reporters after the summit, referring to the Chinese announcement on rare earths, without commenting on the specifics of the closed-door conversation. \u201cWe can see the impact it is having on us and we need to be able to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
China announced plans to significantly tighten controls on its exports of rare earths and other critical materials earlier this month. Under the measures, overseas exporters of items that use even traces of certain rare earths sourced from China would need an export license.<\/p>\n
The export restrictions would pose a massive threat to Europe\u2019s industry and security, as the inputs are critical across sectors and used in everything from electric vehicle batteries to defense manufacturing. <\/p>\n
Following the summit, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz confirmed that the anti-coercion tool was discussed but that no decision had been reached on using it. He said it was now up to the European Commission, which handles trade matters for the EU, to decide whether to deploy the ACI. <\/p>\n
The ACI, which has never been used, was designed primarily as a deterrent, and if needed, to respond to deliberate coercive actions from third countries that use trade measures as a means to pressure the policy choices of the EU or its members.<\/p>\n
The instrument was created as part of the EU\u2019s effort to boost its trade defenses after the US imposed tariffs on the bloc\u2019s exports during the first Trump administration. Another factor was China\u2019s decision to place restrictions on Lithuanian goods after Taiwan opened a trade office in the Baltic nation.<\/p>\n
Use of the EU\u2019s most potent trade tool is unlikely at this stage as it would significantly escalate tensions with China. France has called for using the instrument before, including during trade talks with the US. But the drive never fully gained traction.<\/p>\n
The commission is currently working on options that it could use if a diplomatic solution with China isn\u2019t found.<\/p>\n
The commission is preparing a list of trade measures by the end of the month that can later be deployed against China to boost its negotiating leverage on the issue, Bloomberg reported earlier. The commission is also developing a plan to protect critical supplies in the short-term and secure other sources.<\/p>\n
The EU\u2019s trade chief Maros Sefcovic held talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Wentao, earlier this week on the proposed export restrictions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no interest in escalation,\u201d Sefcovic told reporters after the call Tuesday. \u201cHowever, this situation casts a shadow over our relationship, therefore a prompt resolution is essential.\u201d<\/p>\n
–With assistance from Alberto Nardelli and Arne Delfs.<\/p>\n
(Updates with Macron quote in the fourth paragraph.)<\/p>\n
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek<\/p>\n
\u00a92025 Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France’s president Emmanuel Macron (Bloomberg) — French President Emmanuel Macron told European Union leaders to consider using the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[3662,1395,34,2000,299,5187,1699,38166,118373],"class_list":{"0":"post-523605","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-bloomberg","9":"tag-china","10":"tag-emmanuel-macron","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-european","14":"tag-european-union","15":"tag-rare-earths","16":"tag-trade-measures"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115426677488727268","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}