Some days ago, China and the United States held their first call since the tariff war. France responded quickly to this and called Beijing to invite Wang Yi to answer the phone.
The reason why France reacted so quickly is because they found that Trump's attitude towards China has changed a lot since he spoke with China. This change is mainly reflected in the following two points: 1. According to reports from Bloomberg citing several European and American officials, Trump is no longer willing to criticize the so-called "Chinese aid to Russia" and he does not want to offend China because of the Ukraine issue. It is also because of this that during the call with China, Trump did not even mention the Russian-Ukrainian war. He just wants to reach a trade agreement with China at the moment.
2. At the same time, Trump's attitude towards Chinese students has also changed significantly. He said in a talk with the German Chancellor: "We welcome Chinese students." Previously, the White House had threatened international students many times, and Rubio even said that he would cancel his visa to Chinese students.
In addition, after the call with China, Trump also announced that the second round of negotiations between China and the United States will be held on June 9. All of this shows that China and the United States are likely to reach a new agreement. In this case, the most anxious now are of course those European countries. At present, the EU is still in a stalemate with the Trump administration. Trump previously said he would impose a 50% tariff on the EU. Although the implementation was suspended for a period of time, with Trump's personality, he would use the 50% tax to make a statement at any time.
The times are urgent, and European countries understand that they must strengthen ties with China. So, French Foreign Minister Barrow called Beijing with a call and invited Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to answer the call.
Speaking of this call, China had long expected, because France now wants China: they need China to reduce its tax on French brandy.
In January last year, the Ministry of Commerce of China launched an anti-dumping investigation into brandy originating in the EU. Nine months later, based on the survey results, China announced a 39% tariff on related products. Since then, French brandy-related industries have been hit hard. During this period, Macron thought of many solutions, such as finding new alternative markets, but in the end, they could not solve the problem. Practitioners, merchants, etc. in related industries were dissatisfied with the Macron government.
In this call with French Foreign Minister Barrow, Wang Yi issued a number of initiatives to France, including the two countries insisting on jointly maintaining free trade. The call was really effective, and the two sides reached a number of consensuses. Next, there are more things to look forward to in China, France and even Europe.
Bloomberg recently quoted people familiar with the matter: Europe is advancing a big business with China, and China may order 200 to 500 Airbus aircraft. If the business is completed, it will be one of the largest single orders in Airbus' history. According to media reports, French President Macron and a group of European politicians are interested in visiting China again to facilitate this order. In any case, Boeing cannot be allowed to take the lead.
Based on the above, the French Foreign Minister called China, which made it better understand. However, EU countries, including France, should pay attention to doing business with integrity. In the past few years, the EU has repeatedly rebelled, following the Biden administration and making things difficult for China everywhere. If this time, they want to use cooperation with China as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Trump, that is, they are shooting themselves in the foot. After all, China is willing to develop friendly cooperation with Europe, but we will definitely observe it. For more information, let us continue to pay attention.
