Macron, warning on a great threat: “If we have to choose a camp, we will destroy the global order”

The division between the two superpowers of the world, the United States and China, is the main risk at the present-day level, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday at the Shangri-On Dialogue Forum, held in Singapore, according to Reuters. At the same time, the leader from Elysee emphasized the need to build new alliances between Paris and Indo-Pacific partners.

“I want it to be clear: France is a friend and allied of the United States and is friends and cooperates – even though we sometimes have divergences and competition – with China,” said Macron.

“We are told that we have to choose a camp. If we do this, we will destroy the global order and disassemble, methodically, all the institutions we have created after World War II, institutions meant to maintain peace and ensure cooperation such as health, climate change, human rights and others.”

The President of France also said that Asia and Europe have a common interest in preventing the disintegration of global order.

“The time of non-alignment has passed, without a doubt, but the time of the coalitions has come, and this demands that the countries capable of acting together to provide all the necessary means to do so,” Macron said.

The French president follows the example of leaders in China, Japan and other European countries, who have recently visited the region, a sign of the strategic importance of Southeast Asia, in the context of uncertainties related to global supply and trade chains.

Macron also warned that if the United States and Europe would not be able to end the Russian war against Ukraine, this will affect their credibility in the Indo-Pacific region.

“If the United States of America and Europeans fail to solve the short -term crisis in the short term, I think the credibility of US and Europe to manage any other crisis in this region will be very low,” said the leader from Elysee.

The war of tariffs

Donald Trump accused China on Friday of violating understanding with the United States on commercial rates. Trump claims that, despite reducing the agreed tariffs, Beijing did not comply with his commitments.

“China, probably no surprise to anyone, completely violated understanding with the United States. I received because I was Mr. Nice Guy (no. Boy),” Donald wrote Trump in a message on his social media social network.

The Secretary of the US Treasury, Scott Bessent, acknowledged on Thursday that discussions with China are “a little blocked” and stressed that a real progress could only be achieved by direct involvement of the leaders of the two countries, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

Two weeks after the decisive negotiations that led to a temporary armistice in the world's largest savings, Bessent said that the progress has been slow, but said they are expecting more discussions in the next few weeks.

The 12 May agreement concluded by Washington and Beijing provided for a decrease in commercial tariffs by 115%. Specifically, the US reduced taxes for Chinese goods from 145% to 30%, and China for US imports from 125% to 10%.