Macron supports globalisation, but not European “naivety” on trade
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday he was a supporter of free trade but that Europeans should not be naive when they trade with global competitors such as China and the United States, which protect their own strategic industries.
“Being attractive doesn’t mean exposing ourselves to the four winds,” Macron told reporters during his first summit with other European Union leaders in Brussels.
Macron, who defeated the anti-Europe far-right leader Marine Le Pen last month, said he had always been a defender of globalisation and free trade during his time as minister, but that European leaders should hear the plight of workers hit by globalisation.
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The 39-year-old wants, as part of his pledge to promote a “protective Europe”, to make good on his election call for an EU mechanism to control foreign takeovers of important industries, that some other EU countries oppose.
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