French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire will travel to Berlin on Wednesday to push Germany for tougher measures to protect European industry in a global race against China and the US.
(Bloomberg) — French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire will travel to Berlin on Wednesday to push Germany for tougher measures to protect European industry in a global race against China and the US.
The French minister said he will tell the German government that moves in recent years to allow state aid for nascent sectors are now insufficient and new efforts are required.
“We now need a European industrial strategy that is much more proactive, much more innovative, much more protective of our industrial interests in relation to China and the US,” Le Maire said on French television LCI. “There isn’t a day to lose.”
French President Emmanuel Macron and his government have often called for tougher protective measures for European industry, notably after the US Inflation Reduction act introduced huge subsidies for production on American soil.
But France’s renewed initiative comes as Germany’s economic difficulties deepen amid poor demand for industrial goods and higher interest rates. France, meanwhile, has shown greater resilience to the headwinds and is expected to post healthy growth numbers for this year.
“France is in the process of becoming the economic engine of Europe,” Le Maire said.
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