Shanghai, French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday expressed hope for an end to the ongoing trade war between Washington and Beijing with an agreement between the two parties.
Macron, who made the remarks while addressing the China International Import Expo (CIIE), which was inaugurated by Chinese President Xi Jinping, added that an agreement to conclude the trade dispute would alleviate tensions, reports Efe news.
The French President said that the tensions arising from the trade war had also affected the European Union, as well as the rest of the world.
He added that the whole world had been damaged as “no one wins” in a trade war, and went on to strongly criticize protectionism and advocate for greater economic ties between countries.
Macron also stressed the importance of collaboration in other areas such as the environment, claiming the joint work of Europe and China to reduce emissions would be “decisive”, especially at a time when the US plans to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.
He said that if the signatories wanted to comply with the agreement, they would have to improve their commitments to reduce emissions next year and confirm new commitments by 2030 and 2050.
His speech followed the inaugural address of Xi who while addressing a group of mostly politicians and businessmen, did not make a direct reference to the trade war but underlined the importance of a world with increasingly fewer trade barriers.
In this regard, Macron praised the Asian country for its vision of opening itself up to the world with events like this expo, which involves 3,000 companies from 150 countries seeking to make inroads into the Chinese market.
The French President, on his second official visit to the country, said that now China needed to open up to the world and the rest of the world had to be open to China.
Macron further stressed on the need to redefine the order of world trade, reflecting the current realities, and claimed that Europe and China had to “contribute in a reasonable way” in this regard.
Economy and trade, culture and the fight against climate change are the three main priorities of Macron’s current visit, the agenda of which includes the inauguration of a Pompidou Centre in Shanghai later during the day.
He was scheduled to attend a private dinner with Xi on Tuesday night before leaving for Beijing to conclude his visit with the signing of trade agreements.
