Extract from...

Extract from https://www.copyright link/politics/federal/how-the-virus-will-change-us-20200403-p54gml

France is already seeing the opportunity to engage in some economic nationalism, under Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire's dictum that "protection is not the same as protectionism".

He told reporters earlier in April that the EU should "work on limiting the industrial dependence of some strategic sectors, for instance electric batteries and artificial intelligence".

This process was already under way in the US and Australia, which prior to the virus were co-operating to secure the supply of rare earths and other strategic commodities vital in the production of weapons, electric vehicles and renewable energy, where China had come to dominate the market.