German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris Wednesday because the embattled leaders attempt to chart a brand new course for Europe with US President Donald Trump threatening to upend transatlantic relations.

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(Bloomberg) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris Wednesday because the embattled leaders attempt to chart a brand new course for Europe with US President Donald Trump threatening to upend transatlantic relations.
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Regardless of their many coverage variations and weakened positions, Scholz and Macron will attempt to mission energy and can name for a fast response if the US follows by on threats to impose tariffs on European exports, in response to folks acquainted with the plans. They’ll additionally pledge to talk with one voice when coping with the brand new administration in Washington.
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A disastrous snap election final yr left Macron marginalized in France’s parliament and German voters are poised to vote Scholz out of workplace subsequent month. That offers the leaders of the European Union’s two largest economies restricted room to maneuver within the face of an aggressive US.
Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on the EU over a variety of points, from the bloc’s commerce surplus to not spending sufficient on protection. Bloomberg reported earlier that the EU has ready an inventory of American corporations to focus on with retaliatory duties if Trump does carry by with the threats.
“We’ll defend free commerce as the premise of our prosperity along with different companions,” Scholz mentioned on the World Financial Discussion board in Davos on Tuesday. “Europe is dedicated to free, honest international commerce and we’re not alone on this.”
The assembly between the 2 leaders received’t be the primary time the duo has tried to place up a united entrance within the face of aggressive international powers, even amid their variations.
Scholz and Macron failed over the previous three years to construct a robust working relationship attributable to their contrasting views and kinds. That tough dynamic has coincided with the EU navigating pressing points, equivalent to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a sputtering economic system and excessive power costs.
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The stakes, nonetheless, are a lot increased now within the midst of a worldwide reshaping of energy dynamics.
For Scholz, European nations can solely safe their prosperity in the event that they safeguard a sure openness to their economies amid China’s rising international commerce ambitions and Trump’s hostile posturing. The German chief needs the EU to seal extra free-trade agreements with nations in South America and past.
Macron has a special tackle commerce. The French president was livid when regardless of his staunch opposition, the European Fee in December pushed forward and accomplished negotiations on a free-trade accord with the South American Mercosur bloc, an settlement backed by Germany.
Comparable variations got here to gentle when France final yr satisfied the fee to boost import tariffs on Chinese language electrical automobiles, a transfer opposed by Germany because it feared Chinese language retaliation on German auto producers.
France and Germany may also have hassle discovering widespread floor on safety and protection. Whereas Scholz is in favor of loosening Germany’s strict borrowing limits to finance extra protection spending at residence through debt, he’s against Macron’s proposal to go for an additional spherical of joint European borrowing to fund protection initiatives.
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In February, Macron caught Scholz off guard when he didn’t exclude the opportunity of sending Western floor troops to Ukraine throughout a press convention in Paris that adopted a gathering of EU leaders that included the chancellor. The German chief shortly shot down the proposal.
Throughout Wednesday’s assembly, Scholz and Macron may also broach the subject of European regulation of US tech giants.
Scholz and Macron will focus on how each governments can help the EU in its efforts to protect residents from the rising menace of misinformation and hate speech on social media platforms like Elon Musk’s X and Mark Zuckerberg’s Fb and Instagram, mentioned the folks.
Because the EU’s Digital Providers Act supplies the toolbox for protecting measures, Scholz and Macron are prone to agree that Europeans ought to push towards any US makes an attempt to weaken and even abolish these European guidelines.
“Because the European Union, we are able to additionally construct on our personal energy,” Scholz mentioned on Monday. “As a group of greater than 400 million Europeans, we’ve got financial weight.”
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