Hedgers in Beijing and Brussels: From waving to waffling

Michael Kovrig: In an interview with Les Echos, Macron said the quiet part out loud. He described China as “striking at the heart of the European industrial and innovation model” and said Europe was “caught between” Trump’s tariffs and Chinese overcapacity — “a matter of life and death for European industry. We have become the adjustment market.” He said he told Xi that without movement on the surplus, “we Europeans would be forced, in the very next months, to take strong measures and to de-cooperate, like the United States, for example tariffs on Chinese products.” Macron also noted he had coordinated this with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen — who Chinese officials had spent the visit trying to sideline. “Protection against unfair competition is the foundation of resilience,” Macron wrote in a Financial Times op-ed. “We must not be naive: a credible protection strategy requires that we have the means to defend ourselves against those who break the rules.”…