PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron poured cold water on the idea of implementing protectionist measures on tech companies like Huawei.
Asked by CNBC's Karen Tso Thursday about U.S. pressure on the Chinese telecommunications giant, he said: "We have some restrictions but (are) totally focused on what is related to this national security, nothing more."
"There is no over-protectionism vis-a-vis any of the big global tech (firms) because we need them to fertilize our ecosystem, we want to be stronger and stronger and create maximum jobs."
However, he added: "For sure on some issues we have restrictions, not focused on Huawei, but to preserve our national security and our sovereignty for critical reasons."
The U.S. has been at loggerheads with China in an intense trade battle that has spilled over into the tech world. President Donald Trump, who claims the country's trade practices are unfair, on Wednesday declared a national emergency over the threat to U.S. technology, adding Huawei to a list of companies that makes it more difficult to conduct business with U.S. firms.
Meanwhile, France has looked to clamp down on tech giants like Facebook, Google and Amazon over their taxation practices, proposing a 3% levy on the domestic revenues of such firms.