Finance
French advisers urges EU tariffs or weaker euro to counter China
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 9, 2026
2 min readLast updated: February 9, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 9, 2026
2 min readLast updated: February 9, 2026
The EU is considering tariffs or euro depreciation to counter Chinese imports, impacting European industries and facing implementation challenges.
PARIS, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The European Union should consider either an unprecedented 30% across-the-board tariff on Chinese goods or a 30% depreciation of the euro against the renminbi to counter a flood of cheap imports, a French government strategy report said on Monday.
Europe is facing a surge in Chinese competitive pressure, with Chinese firms gaining market share, including in industries once dominated by European countries, the report said, while acknowledging that its proposals would be hard to implement.
It was prepared by the Haut-Commissariat à la Stratégie et au Plan, a French government advisory body that reports directly to the prime minister and guides long-term public policy.
The analysis found that sectors central to Europe's industrial base, including cars, machine tools, chemicals and batteries, are now under direct threat, with a quarter of French exports and up to two-thirds of German production exposed to Chinese competition.
The surge is being driven by higher-quality Chinese products and sustained cost advantages of 30% to 40%, according to consultations with European manufacturers.
Combined with an "undervalued" Chinese currency, Beijing's industrial advance risks pushing Europe into a cycle of "destructive destruction" if no action is taken, the head of the institution, Clément Beaune, said.
He said existing EU trade-defence tools - which have often included lengthy anti-dumping investigations - were now insufficient and called for a "massive and vital" policy shift.
Beaune acknowledged that engineering a euro depreciation - or a renminbi appreciation - would be more difficult than imposing tariffs, though tariffs would also be far from simple and require qualified majority backing among EU states.
French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said last week he could put currency-market volatility on the agenda of France's presidency of the Group of Seven economic powers this year if needed.
France aims to use its year-long G7 presidency to focus on global macroeconomic imbalances Lescure described as driven by credit-fuelled over-consumption in the U.S., under-investment in Europe and export-led growth in China.
(Reporting by Leigh Thomas. Editing by Mark Potter)
Currency depreciation refers to a decrease in the value of a currency relative to other currencies, which can make exports cheaper and imports more expensive.
The euro is the official currency of the Eurozone, used by 19 of the 27 European Union member countries, facilitating easier trade and economic stability.
The renminbi is the official currency of the People's Republic of China, with the yuan as its primary unit, often used in international trade.
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