May 24, 2024
France Calls for Shared G-7 Assesment of China Overcapacities
, Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) -- French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the Group of Seven needs coalesce on an assessment of excess Chinese industrial exports as Europe tries to avoid getting caught in the cross-hairs of a trade-war.
“China is our economic partner, but China has industrial overcapacities and the G-7 must present a united front to protect its industrial interests,” Le Maire said at a meeting of financial officials from the group in Stresa, Italy.
The French minister’s call for shared assessment comes as the US, China and the European Union prepare increasingly assertive trade measures.
Earlier this month, President Joe Biden accused China of dumping exports into US markets and announced a sweeping set of tariffs on a range of goods. Meanwhile, the EU is nearing the end of an electric-vehicle subsidy investigation that is likely to lead to defensive measures against China’s auto exports.
But the EU’s potential levies are expected to be significantly lower than the US’s and based on a different approach within World Trade Organization rules and procedures.
Meanwhile, China has signaled it’s ready to unleash duties as high as 25% on both imported American and European autos.
“For sure the G-7 needs to be unified,” Paolo Gentiloni, the European Commissioner for Economy told Bloomberg Television in Stresa. “To have a unified approach, in the EU view, we need to strengthen also our mutual exchange of information, our monitoring.”
Le Maire said there needs to be a clear assessment of overcapacity in China and of the “most efficient tools” to address the issue. He said the International Monetary Fund could be involved in the analysis.
“We should definitely avoid any kind of trade war,” Le Maire said. “A trade war is neither in the interests of the US, nor China, nor Europe, nor any country in the world.”
--With assistance from Kamil Kowalcze, Tom Rees, Alessandra Migliaccio, Toru Fujioka, Jorge Valero, Viktoria Dendrinou and Oliver Crook.
(Updates with EU’s Gentiloni in seventh paragraph)
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