PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said the EU should take inspiration from the U.S. on trade measures aimed at protecting strategic industries.

“We must accept to take protective measures, safeguard measures,” Macron said on Friday, calling for “the European equivalent of Section 301.”

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows U.S. authorities to investigate unfair or discriminatory trade practices, and impose tariffs in response. It is also the legal basis that President Donald Trump plans to use to impose new tariffs when his current interim tariffs expire in late July. 

“There is no reason why, when our sovereignty is at stake, hit by foreign actors … we should not react,” Macron said in a speech to an event on quantum computing in Bruyères-le-Châtel.

In line with France’s long-standing economic agenda, Macron also defended local content requirements and a “Buy European” push of the type foreseen in the EU’s proposed Industrial Accelerator Act.

While he didn’t elaborate on how an EU “Section 301” might look or make specific mention of tariffs on Friday, Macron did call for across-the-board tariffs to shield strategic sectors in an address to European industrialists in Antwerp earlier this year.

The European Commission is working on a package of trade defense measures ahead of an internal strategy debate on the competitive threat posed by China next Friday and an EU leaders’ summit in mid-June. Among options being considered are identifying additional sectors for safeguard investigations, where the EU would assess how imports may be harming local industry and whether tariff quotas could be imposed. Politico