French foreign minister says Europe could become ‘3rd actor’ amid US-China rivalry

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Friday that Europe could become a “third actor” amid growing competition between the US and China.

“Xi Jinping and Donald Trump invoke the ‘Thucydides Trap.’ Let us keep in mind how history ended,” Barrot wrote on US social media company X. The “Thucydides Trap” is a concept describing the risk of conflict between a rising power and an established one.

Referring to the Peloponnesian War, Barrot said that while Athens and Sparta were exhausting themselves in war, Macedonia was strengthening itself militarily, economically and financially.

“In the end, it was Macedonia that prevailed,” he said.

“Who could this third actor be today? It will be Europe, if we have the courage and the will. That is what we are advocating,” Barrot added.

The comments followed remarks by Xi during talks with Trump in Beijing, where the Chinese leader referred to the “Thucydides Trap.”