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Now I can't read french and I had little a hypothesis before going into this document. I was thinking of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, and how it is the decades long clash of two immovable objects. Both trade zones are protectionist by nature. Certain segments in Mercosur don't want to import industrial european goods. Certain countries in Europe don't want to import Mercosur's agricultural goods.

But Mercosur has one advantage, in that once the trade agreement was concluded it only has to be ratified by the national parliaments of each member state. The agreement then is online for that country. So if Uruguay doesn't ratify, it doesn't matter to Argentina and Brazil. Europe is different. If four countries band together they can dash the whole thing. So you have an wrestling competition to see who loses the most or wins the least from opening trade, with European countries pressuring each other behind the scenes. France, Poland and Ireland are the permanent opposition. Italy is a potential fourth.

Question is: does France feel as strongly about Chinese imports? Doesn't seem like it.

I decided to ctrl-search the document for references to dumping and here's what I found (machine translated):

For Vincent Guérend and Benoît Guidée, respectively Director of the EU-MEAE and Asia and Oceania-MEAE, it's “important to bear in mind that in 2013, because of a European report questioning the Chinese photovoltaic industry (accusing it of selling at prices below their value), China took measures that had a devastating effect on the sector in Europe”. And indeed, the anti-dumping duties on Chinese solar panels have precipitated the launch by the Chinese authorities of anti-dumping investigations (1) on European wines, and French in particular, such as Cognac. Above all, they have not halted the decline of the European industry. Some observers, such as the trade association SolarPower Europe, consider that European protection measures have even contributed to slowing down the installation of solar panels in Europe: “Only five years ago, import duties were in place, resulting in a sharp decline in solar jobs, project investment and solar deployment, driving up the cost of photovoltaics for customers and consumers”.

Recommendation: Implement trade regulation instruments for goods deemed sensitive, combining targeted import quotas and minimum prices, in order to guarantee fair competition, industrial sovereignty and fair remuneration for the industries concerned.

More than 10 years later, in October 2024, China is still reacting to the countervailing measures decided by the European Commission with a series of anti-dumping (2) or anti-subsidy investigations against European imports of brandy, pork products and certain dairy products. These investigations have led to the imposition of provisional anti-dumping duties on imports of French Cognac and Armagnac. Whether or not these allegations are well-founded, and whether or not the EU is successfully contesting these measures at the WTO, it is French producers who are now paying the price for this trade policy.

On October 11, China imposed security deposits of up to 39% on European imports, almost exclusively targeting French products such as cognac, armagnac and calvados. One week earlier, on October 4 2024, the European Union, supported by France but with Germany abstaining, decided to impose provisional anti-dumping duties on Chinese electric vehicles, in the declared aim of protecting its automotive industry. France now understands that it will have to pay in cash for its vote in favor of sanctions against Chinese electric vehicles, whose export to the European market is a major issue for Chinese manufacturers.

Now this is a very limited reading of the document but it seems to me that France is just primarily concerned with being able to export agricultural and luxury goods to China and sees barring Chinese imports as deleterious to its industrial sector. Their solution to the contradictions of international trade seem to be a mixture of 'hey we are too polite to say that the Germans should get fucked' and 'let's negotiate trade quotas and price fixing for the next 10+ years to make sure everything is halal'.

In short, the French are still thinking in neoliberal terms. They just want to maximize gains for the economic sectors that finance them. It's fundamentally about doubling down on 'comparative advantages'.

Edit: two other things the report mention is that idea that negotiating trade quotas with China is a better remedy than constantly guarding against transshipment. It also considers negotiations with China important for issues of technological transfer.