Divide and conquer, hey? Oldest trick in the book.The French may be about to find out why the Brits voted to leave the EU.
A couple of weeks back the EU imposed a tariff on Chinese electric vehicles. The Chinese retaliated by imposing tariffs on a number of EU commodities including brandy. As an excuse the Chinese claim that the EU is dumping cheap brandy in their market, that is remarkably similar to the Australian wine situation. The problem for France is 99% of the EU's brandy exports to China come from France.
Brussels makes a decision and the French economy suffers. There is strength in numbers but sometimes it is better to control your own destiny.