France and China have found common ground on climate change and trade but Beijing still needs to open the door wider to foreign companies, according to French President Emmanuel Macron, reported the South China Morning Post.
Addressing the China International Import Expo in Shanghai on Tuesday, Macron said he hoped China and the US could reach an agreement to ease the trade tensions between the two economies, adding that protectionist trade practices hurt the global economy. “No one wins a trade war,” he said.
“Our trade practices do not provide an effective safeguard for the world economy. Should we just give up on such a trade order and resort to unilateralism and tariffs or the law of the jungle? Is that the way forward? I don’t think so. That is not the choice of France or the European Union.”
Macron called on China to do more to open up its economy to foreign businesses. “We need a greater openness of China and its domestic market,” he said. “All French, German and European companies expect a lot of China’s promises here.”