France clears UK inclusion in EU Made in Europe procurement law

France has dropped its opposition to including the UK in the EU's "Made in Europe" legislation, removing the last big hurdle to Britain joining the bloc's flagship industrial procurement scheme five years after leaving it. The shift, conditional on London aligning with EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, came as France backed Germany in a joint paper seen by the Guardian.

The Industrial Accelerator Act, still in draft, is designed to keep public procurement money inside Europe and shield manufacturers from cheap Chinese competition. The Franco-German paper proposes that for the automotive sector, "Made in Europe" should comprise the EU27 plus an opt-in for "European partners who were part of the EU single market as of 01/01/2020" — a formulation that captures the UK and also Norway, which remains in the single market without membership. Opt-in countries would have to accept "dynamic alignment" on EU trade defence measures, third-country investment rules and anti-circumvention measures — effectively adopting European trade policy without a vote on it.

The UK government has been eager to join, fearing billions of pounds in car-industry trade could be lost if British suppliers are locked out of EU supply chains. Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said this week he would not be coerced into aligning with the EU's China tariffs, but trade minister Anas Sarwar told Politico the UK and EU must "work together and act in lockstep" on Chinese automotive dominance — a signal that alignment is coming.

Liam Byrne, chair of the Commons business committee, called alignment "the least worst choice": "Tariffs on these would be a small price to pay for the protection of a European manufacturing industry which safeguards jobs across supply chains in the UK and makes us less prone to coercion from China in the future."

Industry pressure preceded the political turn. The head of Mercedes-Benz implored EU leaders on Wednesday to let the UK join, saying locking Britain out would be a "deliberate choice" to hurt the car industry across the bloc. Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament's trade committee, said the UK should "of course" be included.

The EU imposed tariffs on Chinese EVs in 2024 and is finalising a quota deal with China on hybrid exports. Britain rejoins the European economy through the supplier door — bound by rules it no longer helps write, and this time no one in Washington raised an objection.