Davos [Switzerland], January 20 : French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday called for greater global cooperation with emerging economies, including BRICS and G20 countries, to strengthen multilateralism amid global economic imbalances and unpredictability over the US's recent tariff threats.
During his address at the 56th Annual Summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF) here, Macron emphasised the need for stronger economic sovereignty and a strategic economy, particularly for Europe, to tackle rising global instability and imbalances across security, defence, and economic domains.
"In order to fix this issue, we need more cooperation and new approaches. And it's clearly about building more economic sovereignty and a strategic economy, especially for the Europeans," he said.
Highlighting France's G7 presidency this year, Macron said the summit aims to restore the G7 as a forum for frank dialogue among major economies and for collective solutions, warning that "trade wars, protectionist escalation, and races toward overproduction will only produce losers," stressing that addressing global economic imbalances is a key priority.
Macron cited American overconsumption, Chinese underconsumption and overinvestment, and European underinvestment and lack of competitiveness as major causes of global imbalances, highlighting development gaps, stressing that aid alone is no longer sufficient to help countries escape poverty.
"The objective of this G7 will be to build a framework of cooperation to address the roots of these imbalances and restore efficient convergence and cooperation through multilateral frameworks. Another objective is to build bridges and more cooperation with emerging countries, the BRICS, and the G20, because the fragmentation of this world would not make sense," the French President stated.
Macron further warned against two ineffective approaches to tackling the "shift towards a world without rules, where international law is trampled, and where the only law that matters is that of the strongest".
The first, he said, would be to passively accept the law of the strongest, leading to vassalisation and bloc politics. The second would be to adopt a purely moral stance, limiting action to condemnation.
"I want to exclude two approaches. The first approach would be to passively accept the law of the strongest, leading to vassalisation and bloc politics. Accepting a sort of new colonial approach doesn't make sense, and all heads of state, government, and business leaders who would be too complacent with such an approach will bear huge responsibility. The second would be to adopt a purely moral posture, limiting ourselves to condemnation. That path would condemn us to marginalisation and powerlessness," Macron said.
"Faced with the brutalisation of the world, France and Europe must defend effective multilateralism because it serves our interests and those of all who refuse to submit to the rule of force," he added.
The French President's remarks come amid rising global instability and imbalances across security, defence, and economic domains on the backdrop of Washington's threats to impose tariffs on France and seven other European countries unless they agree to sell Greenland.
Meanwhile, India assumed the BRICS chair for 2026, scheduled to take place later this year, as the forum marks its 20th anniversary.
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