Are China or other non-European emerging countries France’s main problem?

It is often claimed in France that the deterioration in the country’s foreign trade and its manufacturing job losses are due to competition from China and other (non-European) emerging countries, where the levels of labour costs, social welfare and climate concern are all abnormally low . But when we look at the origin of the deterioration in France’s foreign trade, we see that it results from France’s trade with the European Union, not trade with emerging countries other than China and not trade with China. France’s problem is the deterioration in its foreign trade with the EU. This shows that the problem is not abnormal competition from China or non-European emerging countries, but: France’s competitiveness disadvantage (low skills and weak corporate modernisation combined with high labour costs); Labour cost differen tial s between EU countries and even between euro-zone countries.