Days before European trade leadership is slated to meet with Chinese counterparts to hash out the issue of a fast-growing trade imbalance, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are making a play to deploy a powerful legislative weapon against the deluge of imports.

Merz and Macron wrote to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to say that the 27-member trade bloc’s domestic manufacturing sectors and its overall economy have been threatened by systemic market-distortion practices and that the issue requires swift attention.

“Without delaying the full use of the existing set of instruments, we need a comprehensive framework to complement our toolbox with new legal instruments—in a lean and non-bureaucratic way,” they wrote. A rapid-response mechanism modeled on America’s Section 301 duties would speed up and streamline the Commission’s process for addressing unfair trade practices or market imbalances, they believe.

Along with other European leaders, Macron has spoken openly and often about the impact of a growing deluge of China-originating imports has had on domestic producers, noting that the United States’ efforts to rectify its own trade deficit with the sourcing superpower has led to a redirection of products to the European market.

S. market. Trump applied more duties to trading partners, including China, after an investigation into practices tied to forced labor concluded this summer.

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