Brussels is considering setting “made in Europe” targets of up to 70 per cent for certain products such as cars, as it pushes to prioritise domestic goods and cut the bloc’s reliance on China for clean technologies and in some heavy industries.
The policy could cost EU companies more than €10bn annually by pushing them to buy more expensive European components, according to officials familiar with a draft law due to be presented on December 10.
The bloc’s French commissioner Stéphane Séjourné is overseeing the proposal, which marks a high point for years of French efforts to focus on domestic production as Europe’s ailing industry struggles to compete with cheap imports from Asia.