3 February 2026 – Our assumption from yesterday has proven correct: the AI-driven sell-off in Asian markets has reversed decisively. Are you asking the right questions? How France is exerting a negative influence on EU policy while pursuing exclusively national interests.
Stock Markets Turn Sharply Higher Again
Our assumption from yesterday proved correct, as the AI-driven downturn in Asian markets reversed and turned decisively positive. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed nearly 4% higher today, while South Korea’s KOSPI surged by more than 6.84% compared with the previous day, reaching a new all-time high.
Base Metals: Copper Up 3.9%
Asian copper futures rose by up to 3.9%, while nickel and aluminium traded largely sideways. On the LME, base metals were already posting gains shortly after the start of trading. Copper rose by around 3.8%, nickel by more than 2.3%, and aluminium by 1.2%.
Are You Asking the Right Questions? How France Is Negatively Shaping EU Policy
Where did the EU’s CO2 tax CBAM actually come from? Who do we have to thank for the new steel tariffs – or, more accurately, consumption taxes on steel? And who was behind the electrification quotas that are detrimental to Germany’s automotive industry?
Unfortunately, these questions can repeatedly be answered with just one word: France.
None of these measures has contributed – nor will any of them – to reviving the French economy, which remains dominated by large state-owned enterprises. Nor will they rescue the EU Member State with the highest absolute level of public debt from its fiscal predicament.
France Has Been Pushing for CBAM Since 2009
As early as 2009, France made a concerted attempt to introduce a carbon border adjustment tax during the revision of European emissions directives-without success. A second attempt in 2016 also failed, even though it reached the European Parliament. Only with the third push from 2020/2021 onward did CBAM finally make it through the EU institutions.
France Demands 50% Steel Tariffs and Halved Quotas
France was also one of the main driving forces behind the repeatedly extended EU safeguard measures on certain steel products. After eight years, these measures must now expire – and, unsurprisingly, are set to be transformed into a far more restrictive regime at France’s insistence.
The current plans involve steel tariffs of up to 50% and sharply reduced quotas, measures that will have dramatic effects on established and traditional trade flows.
This Is Exclusively About French National Interests
At its core, this is about French national interests. A political analysis published back in 2018 already observed that while a trade conflict between the United States and the EU would restrict trade between those two partners, it would simultaneously increase France’s trade with other EU Member States.
The objective is therefore clear: Paris is pursuing mercantilist policies at the expense – and to the detriment – of other EU countries, particularly Germany and Ireland, in an attempt to stabilise a state that is edging toward fiscal collapse.
The same logic applies to the electrification quotas linked to the phase-out of internal combustion engines, which were pushed through under pressure from the French government. Once again, these measures disproportionately favour French carmakers dependent on state subsidies – at the expense of Germany’s automotive industry.
It would be hard to express hostility toward Germany’s still comparatively strong economy more clearly than this.
Time to Draw a Line Under Failed French Economic Policy
Significant economic damage has run like a thread through European history, caused primarily by a failed state driven by socialist ideas – one that lacks a view of the bigger picture and instead focuses on polishing its own battered ego.
The question remains: when will Berlin finally show enough self-confidence to put a stop to this?
Or, as people say in southern Baden: “What comes from France is rarely good” – usually a remark about the weather. In this case, however, the meaning seems far broader.
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