Macron seeks to charm Xi into trade concessions in Pyrenees jaunt
TARBES, France, May 7 (Reuters) -French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Pyrenees mountains on Tuesday, for the second day of a trip during which Xi showed little sign of being ready to offer major concessions on trade or foreign policy.
Macron, who will greet Xi at the Tarbes-Lourdes Pyrenees airport at around 11:40 a.m. (0940 GMT), will take him to have lunch in the mountains dear to him as the birthplace of his maternal grandmother.
Advisers to the French president described this as breaking with protocol for a chance for one-on-one direct chats with Xi, without scores of aide on either side.
One of Macron's main objectives for the visit is trying to convince Xi to reduce the trade imbalance between the two regions, with better access for European firms in China and less subsidies for Chinese exporters.
Macron has a history of trying to establish outside-of-protocol personal relationships with his counterparts, even those he strongly disagrees with.
Xi's Pyrenees invite has echoes of then U.S. President Donald Trump joining Macron in 2017 to watch the Bastille day parade, or Russian President Vladidmir Putin's 2019 trip to the French president's Bregancon fortress summer retreat, in southeast France.
"Emmanuel Macron attempted this narcissistic diplomacy of 'I flatter the tyrant' with Vladimir Putin for five years, with the Bregancon fort ... the camaraderie," Raphael Glucksmann, who leads the French Socialists' European Parliament ticket told RTL radio.
"And all that ended with what, the invasion of Ukraine and the threats to our democracies," Glucksmann said.
French and Chinese companies concluded some agreements on Monday ranging from energy, finance and transport on the sidelines of Xi's visit, but most were agreements to cooperate or renewed commitments to work together, and there were no significant deals.
European hopes of an Airbus plane order to coincide with Xi's visit appeared to have been disappointed, with the two sides agreeing only to expand co-operation.
Industry sources say the two sides have been in negotiations on a new plane order for months.
China has historically signalled large jet orders timed to coincide with state visits, but the negotiations between Airbus and China's CASC buying agency are likely to go down to the wire and are not guaranteed to result in a deal, sources said.
However, French cognac makers rallied on Tuesday as Xi presented what Macron described as an "open attitude" towards a trade dispute between the two countries.
A French diplomatic source said China would not impose taxes, customs duties on French cognac, pending the investigation. Xi did not comment on this during his many public statements on Monday.
Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau Tassilo Hummel, Tim Hepher, John Irish, Leigh Thomas, Dominique Patton in Paris, Piotr Lipinski in Gdansk, Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Alison Williams
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