A WELCOME FOR PRESIDENT XI

"The challenge is to show that in practice cooperation is more fruitful than conflict.  We have more to gain from opening up than from closing up."  

President Emmanuel Macron 

March 26, 2019 

We must accelerate the work undertaken between China and the EU to modernize the World Trade Organization, based on cooperation, transparency, and to reduce regulations, and to -. We discussed this at great length. The challenge is to show that in practice cooperation is more fruitful than conflict.  We have more to gain from opening up than from closing up.  Here too, the partnership between Europe and China will be and must be exemplary, producing tangible results at the next China-EU Summit meeting, notably the Global Agreement on Geographical Indications and Investment.

President Macron talked about things which should be watched closely and others that need to be better understood.  The Global Agreement on Geographical Indications he mentioned meets both of those tests.  We would like to have a better feel for just what such an agreement will contain, and, like others, we shall try to follow developments in next month's EU-China Summit - April 9 in Brussels - for clues as to its status.  

Our understanding is that China and the EU have been discussing Geographical Indications for some time, and that those in the United States who might be affected by any new understanding are on record with their concerns.  In August of 2017, for example, the Virginia based Consortium for Common Food Names put out a press release on the EU-China negotiations. In it, they argued that common names like "feta", "asiago" and "gorgonzola" should not be included.  The larger point, however, is that much of the EU's initiative on GIs has more to do with "closing up," i.e., restricting market access, than it does with "opening up."

More broadly, though Mr. Macron chose to emphasize the importance of multilateralism, his comments raised questions about diplomacy and alliances as well.  From ambassador to chargé d'affaires, from démarche to aide-mémoire, the language of diplomacy is French.  And in the language of diplomacy the message is often between the lines.  President Macron made no specific reference to the United States, and yet USA was between the lines throughout - in the section on trade, on Iran, and on climate change.  If the crime of understated melodrama exits, we confess to committing it here with this observation.  After listening to President Macron we are having difficulty answering this question: Considering the United States and China, which country is, for France, the close ally and which the transactional partner?