Following small win in brandy probe, Brussels hopes it will be able to push Beijing on industrial overcapacity, sources say.
When French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot went to Beijing last month, he gave his Chinese counterparts an ultimatum: do something about hefty tariffs on cognac imports and the liquor’s abrupt removal from your duty-free stores, or our entire “strategic agenda” will be paused.
And with French President Emmanuel Macron planning to travel to China in the second half of this year for another summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, the stakes were high.
