French President Emmanuel Macron made headlines by asserting that Europe needed to “break away” and be less dependent on the U.S.
Macron argued that Europe needed to reduce its dependence on the USD and avoid following the United States into a conflict with China over Taiwan.
The French president recently met with Xi Jinping.
#BREAKING: French President Macron wants Europe to reduce its dependency on the US and become an "autonomous third superpower.”
This comes right after he spent 6 hours with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
He is currently still in China despite the Chinese military exercises… pic.twitter.com/xwmUD71Uli
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) April 9, 2023
Macron: Europe should not depend on the US and the dollar
Europe has become more dependent on the United States in recent years, but it must strengthen its strategic autonomy and not depend on the extraterritoriality of the dollar. This was stated by French President Emmanuel… pic.twitter.com/DxRklgCH46
— S p r i n t e r (@SprinterFamily) April 9, 2023
Breitbart reported:
On the plane ride back to Paris from a three-day state visit with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping, President Emmanuel Macron once again expressed his desire for Europe to become the world’s “third superpower” and — of course — with France in the leadership position.
ADVERTISEMENTIn an interview with the POLITICO website, Mr Macron, who is a leading proponent of the formation of a fully-fledged EU Army, emphasised the need for “strategic autonomy” for Europe from the whims of Washington. A key element of this for the French president would be ramping up the European defence infrastructure in order to reduce its reliance on American arms manufacturers.
More extraordinary, however, was Macron’s comments concerning the use of the dollar as the world reserve currency, saying that Europe should look to reduce its dependence on the “extraterritoriality of the U.S. dollar”. The comments would likely be music to the ears of those in Moscow and Beijing, both of whom have been seeking to undermine the petrodollar.
The petrodollar has been the backbone of the global economy since 1973 when U.S. President Richard Nixon made a deal with Saudi Arabia to only trade oil in U.S. dollars, a move that was quickly adopted by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) responded to Macron’s comments.
Rubio shared the POLITICO interview with a video message regarding the comments that Europe should “break away” from the U.S.
The Florida senator said he found it “really interesting” that Macron said Europe doesn’t need to get involved with conflicts that aren’t their conflicts, specifically that Europe should not be picking sides over Taiwan between the U.S. and China.
“I think this is a good moment for us to ask Europe does Macron speak for all of Europe? Is Macron now the head of Europe? Is he now the most powerful leader in Europe? Because if he is, then there’s some things we’re going to need to change,” Rubio said.
“Europe, including France specifically, has depended heavily on the United States for seventy years for their own defense,” he noted.
“In fact, when Macron tried to play global superpower and sent troops to North Africa to fight terrorists, he couldn’t even get his own troops there. We had to fly them there and we had to fly them back; he couldn’t even get his own troops there,” he added.
“So if they’re gonna break off on their own and follow Macron’s lead, that’s going to save us a lot of money.”
Rubio continued by discussing America’s involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“As far as not getting involved in other conflicts that are not ours, we need to ask Europe does he speak for them. Cause we’re heavily involved in Ukraine right now. We’re spending a lot of our taxpayer money on a European war,” Rubio said.
“And I’ve supported that because I think it’s in the national interest of the United States to be allies to our allies.”
“But if our allies’ position, if in fact Macron speaks for all of Europe, and their position now is they’re not gonna pick sides between the U.S. and China over Taiwan, maybe we shouldn’t be picking sides either,” Rubio said.
“Maybe we should basically say we’re going to focus on Taiwan and the threats that China poses and you guys handle Ukraine and Europe.”
“So, we need to find out does Macron speak for Macron or does Macron speak for Europe?” Rubio commented.
“And we need to get the answer to that pretty quickly because China is very excited about what he said. They enthusiastically support everything he said,” he added.
Watch the full clip:
We need to find out if @EmmanuelMacron speaks for Europe
After his 6 hour meeting in China he told reporters that Europe should create distance with the U.S. & should not get involved in supporting America over China when it comes to Taiwanhttps://t.co/xoFmUGkumH pic.twitter.com/Ps718bXSyn
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) April 9, 2023
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