A Fierce Struggle for Tech Dominance—Outside Europe.
Le Débat du jour on Radio France Internationale, 5 November 2025
Category: Media
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Rare Earths: China’s Nuclear Option
Donald Trump said after a summit in South Korea with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that he had agreed to reduce tariffs on Chinese products to 47% in exchange for Beijing guaranteeing a supply of rare earths and buying American soybeans
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French Debt: an Economic Impasse
I was on France 24 to discuss France’s political void and the toxic rhetoric about the IMF’s arrival—while the debt debate ignores the core issues: economic, technological, and educational challenges.
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Europe is selling out its future to Trump
“I was on France Info TV yesterday discussing how, behind the threat of chaos, Trump is successfully pushing a new paradigm of unilateral tariff protection. While these tariffs are relatively modest, they come with a long list of demands aimed at deepening his partners’ dependencies in digital, military, and energy sectors. Meanwhile, Europe is sacrificing its technological future to prop up its legacy industries.
Click the image to access the video (in French).
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Trump is Forcing his Terms on his Vassals
On France Info TV, discussing how Donald Trump is using tariff policy to assert economic and technological dominance over even his closest allies.
Watch key excerpts, in French.
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World Economic Fiasco: The Twilight of Davos
Atlantico: Does the end of Klaus Schwab’s era mark a definitive break for the World Economic Forum, or can the institution find new momentum without betraying its core identity?
Rémi Bourgeot: Schwab had a knack for sensing the challenges posed by the gaping flaws of a system of which he himself was one of the leading advocates. Yet this approach was undermined by its own social framework. Beyond the current scandal, the erosion of managerial and governmental structures—particularly in Western countries—has deepened a broader crisis of meaning. We are witnessing a shift toward ever more insular, event-driven elitism, replacing the very notions of elite and leadership, which have been weakened by declining educational and cultural standards.
With its economic failures—stemming from the fragmentation of production chains in the name of bureaucratic optimization that has devolved into industrial tragedy—and a service sector increasingly detached from the concept of productivity, the idea of global governance has collided with a more fundamental question: competence. Schwab sought to propose an aggiornamento of global governance, threatened with collapse not only by populist leaders but, above all, by its own internal contradictions. However, the concept has evolved in an intellectually vulnerable context, succumbing to the allure of cultural warfare and spectacle.
Davos is merely the most visible, most glamorous tip of the iceberg. The proliferation of unlikely think tanks, especially in the United States, claiming to offer direction to executives, is a symptom of a deeper crisis of meaning. In a Western world that has turned away from tangible achievements, the most deindustrialized countries are the most obvious victims. In Europe, major French corporations are particularly vulnerable to this conditioning, against a backdrop of globetrotting corporate retreats.
Does Christine Lagarde represent a genuine leadership option to steer the WEF’s transition, or does her name merely crystallize a broader strategic void within the institution?
Beyond speculative rumors about individuals, we see many institutions replacing analysis and innovation with communication-driven management, meticulously calibrated in principle. Without the tools needed for major strategic shifts, these situations easily spiral into failure. This logic permeates beyond executive boards. It is likely that the WEF will double down on its role as an exclusive club rather than offering substantive guidance.
As companies gradually disengage from DEI policies, can Davos still position itself as a showcase for global progress without alienating its historical base?
Paradoxically, Schwab’s “Great Reset” initially stemmed from the observation that globalized governance—centered on quarterly financial capitalism and the Americanization of the masses—was hurtling toward a dead end. The idea was to expose the system’s flaws and advocate for a more intelligent form of cooperation. This echoed the calls for reorientation that briefly surfaced a decade earlier, in 2008, before the collective surrender to the opiate of monetary bubbles. Public institutions and corporations alike struggle to address the quest for meaning and the challenges of change, as seen in the widespread distortion of ESG principles.
As the global balance shifts toward assertive multipolarity, can the Davos Forum still assert itself as a structuring force in international dynamics, or does it risk being sidelined by emerging centers of influence? How did one man, Klaus Schwab, manage to plunge the Davos Forum into an existential crisis—and what does this fragility reveal about the elite’s reliance on tutelary figures rather than genuinely democratic and resilient structures?
The transatlantic fracture of the Western bloc represents a fundamental rupture. The same applies to the shifting alliances among the BRICS nations, despite their deep differences, in the face of Western disorientation. These developments carry significant geopolitical consequences, but also profound implications for economic and social thought. European leaders, in particular, are grappling with a crisis whose psychological dimension should not be underestimated, given how deeply the American leadership has shaped their collective imagination—both geopolitically, with Europe’s conversion to neoconservatism in the 2000s following the Iraq War, and individually, through the standardization of lifestyles.
This interview was originally pulished in French by Atlantico
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Behind DeepSeek: France’s Path to AI Excellence
By leveraging its mathematical expertise and open-source innovation, Europe can compete with the United States and China—not just through massive investments, but above all by keeping scientific culture at the heart of its strategic vision.
As China’s DeepSeek reshuffles the global AI competition, France is also seeking to highlight its cutting-edge capabilities, announcing major investment projects in digital infrastructure at the Paris Global Summit. The rapid success of Mistral AI has demonstrated France’s potential, with its researchers and engineers defying the educational crisis through their mathematical talent. Yet a gap persists between this scientific excellence and public action, as seen in recent missteps—most notably the premature launch of the open-source AI model Lucie. The state must redeploy its scientific expertise to ensure strategic cohesion in these investments and prevent Europe’s digital ecosystem from being systematically overshadowed by Silicon Valley.
This moment is all the more critical as the notion that cutting-edge AI is an exclusively American domain fades, given the proven capabilities of countries like China—and France, with its strong mathematical tradition perfectly aligned with the challenges of neural networks. DeepSeek has shown the world that, with just a few million dollars and limited graphics cards, it’s possible to achieve results that rival those of American giants. Barely a year ago, Mistral also unveiled a model that competed with OpenAI’s, developed in a matter of months by a team of just a few dozen people. France’s AI expertise is undeniable. This talent is also evident within U.S. tech giants: Yann LeCun, Meta’s chief AI scientist, has inspired an entire generation. His company’s open-source model, LLaMA, was initially developed by a Paris-based team.
Many of us already recognized in 2023 the rise of a more efficient and refined AI than that of California’s giants. French minds often find opportunities in Big Tech to apply their mathematical brilliance. Several of Mistral’s founders, in fact, honed their skills in these companies. However, if every European success is ultimately absorbed by American giants—as Mistral nearly was—the benefits for Europe will remain minimal. Given the economic upheaval AI brings, such a trend would lock us into dangerous dependency. Transhumanist visionaries have no real plan for Europe beyond its picturesque landscapes.
The development of infrastructure and data centers, backed by massive investments, is essential for our autonomy. While France’s efforts in this direction are commendable—assuming they materialize fully—they must avoid hiding behind convoluted consortia reminiscent of Airbus-era strategies. Yet we cannot overlook the need for a deeper reflection on funding sources, decision-making balance with international partners, and the long-term viability of these projects.This also requires addressing the persistent technological deficit in public administration, despite the renewed focus on industrial policy. Scattered funding, insufficient analysis, and the excessive event-driven communication of “France 2030,” along with the overhyped “hydrogen revolution” and reindustrialization statistics skewed by self-employment, demand a more fundamental effort from the state. This is especially urgent as global political shifts threaten to disrupt the open-source ecosystem, which is central to Europe’s AI catch-up strategy.
Open source represents a remarkable opportunity for technological knowledge sharing. Yann LeCun is a vocal advocate, and he seems receptive to the idea of his home country reclaiming its rightful place in scientific tradition. However, given U.S. officials’ outcry against DeepSeek and calls for stricter restrictions, there is a risk that Big Tech’s dominance could tighten further, leaving only China as a credible counterbalance. Governments will now have to address the circulation of AI models and open-source frameworks as a key issue in trade negotiations.
Europe will not match the scale of American investments. Yet DeepSeek, Mistral, and others worldwide have proven that we can reposition ourselves in the digital landscape—by relying on open source for now, but above all by placing engineering culture, with all its versatility, back at the core of our strategic decisions. This path, neglected by Europe over the past three decades, is the one being followed by BRICS nations that are effectively positioning themselves in the tech race. We will not succeed by focusing solely on regulatory questions, but by restoring scientific culture to the heart of our choices.
This text was originally published on the website of Les Echos.