France has publicly argued that the European Union's proposed "Made in Europe" law should not extend its protections to the United Kingdom, drawing a direct link between entitlement to the measure and membership of the EU internal market.
A French minister, describing the law as a policy designed to curb Chinese competition, framed the issue in stark terms, saying, "If you're not in the internal market, you don't get the same protection." That comment positions access to the law's protections as conditional, not universal, and marks a clear line between internal market members and external partners.
The intervention matters because it sets the parameters of who the law is intended to shield. If France's view prevails, companies operating from jurisdictions outside the internal market would be denied the safeguards the measure aims to provide. Linking the law's reach to market membership narrows its constituency and clarifies the political choice at stake: whether protections aimed at countering foreign competition should be reserved for those fully integrated into EU economic rules.
The statement also serves as a negotiating posture. By insisting on an internal-market requirement, France is defining a criterion that other member states and EU institutions will have to consider when deciding the law's final scope. That criterion reduces ambiguity about which firms the law is meant to protect, but it also raises questions about how broadly the EU intends to project trade remedies beyond its borders.
France's position therefore reframes the debate over the "Made in Europe" law from an abstract competition tool into an instrument whose benefits would be explicitly tied to market alignment. The comment sets a clear marker for upcoming discussions about scope, membership and the practical reach of any measures designed to respond to Chinese competition.
