PARIS — French Prime Minister François Bayrou accused China on Tuesday of striving for world domination by flooding markets with its exports.
“This month, China’s trade surplus has just passed the milestone of — get this — a trillion dollars … This is a strategy that has been planned for 10 years, whose aim, consequence and purpose is purely and simply to replace our industry,” Bayrou told French lawmakers in his first major policy speech.
The new prime minister, who took over after Michel Barnier was toppled in a parliamentary vote in December, also said France could no longer rely on Washington to push China to respect the global trade rulebook. The U.S. “has chosen, by other means, the same policy of power and domination.”
His comments come amid rising trade tensions between the EU and China, which on Monday reported a trade surplus of nearly $1 trillion for last year. Its exports to the EU grew 3 percent, while imports fell by 4.4 percent — and from France by 5.9 percent.
“China is weaving the web of its economic, technological, diplomatic and military domination,” Bayrou said.
China has targeted French cognac producers with a retaliatory probe after the EU imposed tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles last October. Bayrou is expected to address that file in a trip to China in the coming months.
On Tuesday the EU also slammed Beijing for curbing foreign companies’ market access to its health sector.
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