When it comes to protectionism, few nations do it better and more insolently than the French. Back in the 1980s they forced all Japanese imports of video recorders to be cleared by customs at an undermanned office in the remote town of Poitiers to delay as long as possible their sale to French consumers.
Last year, the French government, in the name of “economic patriotism”, rushed to protect the country’s yoghurt maker Danone, under the threat of a PepsiCo takeover that never materialised. More recently it tried and failed to stop Mittal Steel buying Arcelor, but successfully engineered a big French pharmaceutical tie-up at the expense of the Germans and blocked attempts by Siemens to secure Alstom.
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