According to global network reports, France and Germany reached a consensus on opposing the United States harvesting European investment, the French finance minister and the German economy minister held a press conference on the EU's counterattack against the United States, the French finance minister pointed out that it is necessary to fight back against the US inflation reduction bill, the European Union will introduce a buy European goods bill to protect the interests of European industrial enterprises, France and Germany are trying their best to bridge the economic differences between the two sides to introduce relevant bills as soon as possible. The US inflation reduction bill provides high subsidies for US electric vehicle companies and some factories in the United States, which essentially prevents the development of European local industrial brands to the United States, and greatly increases the speed of European companies to transfer to the United States in the context of the European energy crisis.
If the EU represented by Germany and France does not take action, the speed of European investment and industrial transfer to the United States is bound to further accelerate. In the United States, German Chancellor Scholz warned the United States that if it does not stop discriminatory subsidies that violate WTO rules, there will be a tariff war between the United States and Europe. French President Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly criticized the United States for taking advantage of the European crisis, and Macron recently held a dinner party with forty European business leaders, hoping that he could stay in Europe to develop.
European Union
In addition to the European Union's statement that it will fight back against the United States, the Netherlands also stated that it will not obey the United States on the issue of China. The Dutch Minister of Commerce and Trade pointed out that the Netherlands will not follow the trade negotiations between the United States and Europe on ASML's exports to China, the Netherlands will make its own choice, and the Netherlands will defend its own interests, both security and economic. A few days ago, the Dutch Minister of Commerce and Trade pointed out that the Netherlands will not fully comply with US policy in restricting exports to China, and the Netherlands has its own assessment. The United States introduced a ban on new chips in China on October 7, banning the export of some chips made using American technology to China. The Dutch company ASML is the world's largest chip equipment manufacturer, forming a monopoly in optical core machine technology and occupying 60% of the global lithography machine market.
Scholz
ASML's most advanced extreme ultraviolet lithography machine can no longer be exported to China due to the use of American technology, and the United States is also trying to further restrict ASML's deep ultraviolet lithography machine, especially the immersion deep ultraviolet lithography machine to China.
China is the main customer of the mature process lithography machine export of the Dutch ASML, and it is also the main incremental market under the downturn of the global chip industry market, according to the United States to reduce or interrupt the business in China, for ASML, not only will cause losses to its current revenue, but also obviously affect its development in the future, related panic such as spreading to the financial market, the impact on ASML's market value, is even more destructive. In fact, ASML has already made a choice with actions, and ASML has invested about 180 million US dollars in South Korea to build a new factory and customer service center, which is clearly interested in adding to the Asia-Pacific market represented by China.
Macron
On the other hand, German Chancellor Scholz's visit to China and French President Emmanuel Macron also expressed their intention to visit China and look forward to developing Sino-French relations in various ways, and China has brought development opportunities to Germany, France, the Netherlands and other countries based on the idea of mutual benefit and win-win results, which is qualitatively different from the zero-sum game approach of the United States that harms others and interests itself.
At present, due to the dual impact of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the manipulation of the United States, European countries are in serious economic difficulties. The OECD predicts that the European economy will grow by only 0.5% in 2023, while Germany, the engine of the EU economy, will decline by 0.3%. The European Commission's forecast is more pessimistic, with Germany in recession of 0.6% over the next year, and the European economy fearing a downturn throughout the fourth quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023. This "European dilemma, American carnival" is clearly angering European countries, and the gap between the United States and Europe is deepening.