US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed on the need to better cooperate to counter China’s economic practices, a topic that has sometimes caused friction between the two leaders.
Macron on Saturday hosted Biden in Paris for a state visit, where they discussed steps the US and Europe could take to make their economies more resilient against Chinese imports.
“We voiced the same concerns about China’s potentially unfair practices, which result in the creation of overcapacity, a subject of such importance to the global economy that we need to act in a coordinated manner,” Macron told reporters.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Biden did not raise the topic while being questioned by journalists with Macron.
However, while chatting earlier under an umbrella in a courtyard of the Elysee Palace, Biden told Macron that the US and Europe ought to “coordinate together” on domestic investments.
Reporters heard Biden tell Macron about his last discussion with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), who Biden said had objected to US tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.
The US president said he defended the import duties during the conversation.
Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act has irked European leaders, including Macron, who worry that the billions of dollars in subsidies it authorized to make the US clean-energy sector more competitive against China’s could disadvantage European firms. Biden has touted the measure as the largest-ever US investment in fighting climate change.
“We’re working together to accelerate the transition to net zero. It is the existential threat to humanity,” Biden said on Saturday, referring to global warming.
Biden traveled to France to mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings on Thursday.
The state visit began on Saturday with a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe, including a wreath-laying at France’s tomb of the unknown soldier, and a military parade along the Champs-Elysees leading to the Elysee Palace, where the two held official meetings and delivered public statements.
Macron and French first lady Brigitte Macron, hosted a state dinner at the palace for Biden and US first lady Jill Biden.
“United we stand, divided we fall,” Emmanuel Macron said in toasting Joe Biden at the dinner. “Allied we are and allied we will stay.”
Joe Biden followed by saying the US and France have been “unyielding as well as unwavering in our partnership.”
“That’s what democracies do,” he added.
The two presidents put the war in Ukraine at the top of Saturday’s agenda.
Despite disagreements over whether to send allies trainers onto Ukrainian soil to support the country’s defense against Russia’s invasion, Emmanuel Macron said: “I think we see eye to eye on this war raging in Ukraine... Thank you for being at Europe’s side.”
He expressed hope that when the G7 leaders meet this week in Italy they would agree to a US$50 billion “solidarity fund” for Ukraine that would be backed by sanctioned Russian assets.
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