Merz and Macron seek stronger EU powers against unfair trade

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron have called for stronger European Union powers to counter unfair trade, including a faster route to excluding countries from the bloc’s single market in exceptional circumstances.

Their joint appeal to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen argues that existing tools are no longer sufficient to protect European industry and address dependence on key suppliers, according to Deutsche Welle.

The proposals are contained in an informal, non-binding discussion document, rather than an agreed EU policy. The appeal does not name China or any other country, although it comes amid European concerns about Chinese trade practices and access to critical raw materials.

Faster action, with a different approval process

The French and German leaders propose two new instruments. One would promote diversification and prevent businesses from becoming excessively dependent on individual suppliers. The other would allow the Commission to move more quickly to exclude a country from the single market in extreme situations.

The latter measure could apply where other countries deliberately undermine fair competition through political or economic action, causing serious and systematic distortions within the EU market, the leaders wrote.

Under the process described in the report, such action currently requires approval from member states and can take considerable time. The proposal would reverse that sequence: the Commission could act independently, with national governments then able to block the decision through a qualified majority.

That threshold requires at least 55% of EU member states representing at least 65% of the bloc’s population. The change would therefore alter how an exceptional restriction is authorised, rather than remove member states from the process altogether.

Merz and Macron linked their demands to wider concerns about Europe’s industrial competitiveness, innovation and growing reliance on external suppliers. They warned that trade was increasingly being used as a political instrument and that market-distorting practices were undermining a rules-based trading system.

German carmakers add to pressure for action

The initiative follows calls within Germany for a tougher response to competition from China, particularly in the automotive sector.

During a visit to Volkswagen’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said Berlin would press Brussels for concrete measures covering areas including plug-in hybrids and local-content requirements, Free Malaysia Today reported.

The EU has imposed higher tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars since 2024, alleging that they benefit from unfair state subsidies. Calls to extend those levies to hybrid vehicles have also gained support from Volkswagen staff representative and supervisory board member Daniela Cavallo.

Those demands remain distinct from the broader French-German proposal: neither an extension of tariffs to hybrids nor the new single-market powers is established as an adopted measure in the supplied reporting.

For businesses, the immediate significance is the push to change the EU’s trade-defence framework, not a new restriction already in force. The joint document is intended to open discussion among EU governments and institutions; further decisions would be needed to turn its proposals into policy.