Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast. The French government will use algorithms and artificial intelligence to identify small firms at risk of collapse in the wake of the Covid pandemic, and provide as much as 3 billion euros ($3.7 billion) to protect them. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire presented the new measures on Tuesday as part of a plan that also includes an extension of crisis lending facilities to the end of 2021 and simplified procedures for restructuring debts of small firms. The new tools come amid warnings that a jump in insolvencies as governments pare back crisis aid could hamstring the economic recovery. The OECD said Monday that shoring up balance sheets of small firms is a crucial part of targeted fiscal support in the transition out of the crisis.

The Japanese and French economy ministers agreed Monday to support the alliance between Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA in its bid to improve competitiveness in an auto industry rapidly shifting to electrified and self-driving vehicles, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. The telephone talks between Hiroshige Seko and French counterpart Bruno Le Maire came as the major auto alliance partners review their capital relationship after the arrest of former Nissan and Renault Chairman Carlos Ghosn last November for alleged financial misconduct. In a joint press release, the two ministers said they would support the two companies' discussions and their unified will to maintain and strengthen their cooperative relationship. The French government is the largest shareholder in Renault, which has a 43.4 percent stake in Nissan. Nissan in turn holds a 15 percent nonvoting stake in the French peer, a capital structure regarded by Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa as unbalanced.

PARIS (Reuters) - France and Germany are to make proposals in the coming months to invest public money in data storage facilities in order to wean Europe off of foreign centers and spur artificial intelligence investment, France's finance minister said on Wednesday. France's Bruno Le Maire said the investments would be based on a recent joint initiative to finance the development of batteries, which France and Germany want in order to avoid becoming dependent on Chinese batteries. "We will make proposals with Germany in the coming months to invest public money in data storage for artificial intelligence so that European data is protected," Le Maire told journalists on the sidelines of an annual end-of-summer business forum. German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said that Europe had fallen behind and that alternative had to be found in order not to become dependent on U.S. and Chinese companies. "We have an interest in Europe to keep our data in Europe. We have an interest in creating sovereign data structures," Altmaier said at the same conference.

European Union officials have said they will respond "firmly" if US President Donald Trump presses ahead with his plan for steep global duties on metals. EU trade chiefs are considering slapping 25% tariffs on around $3.5bn (£2.5bn) of imports from the US, Reuters news agency reports. World Trade Organization Director General Roberto Azevedo said: "A trade war is in no one's interests." The rhetoric ramped up as Mr Trump tweeted that "trade wars are good". International condemnation has greeted the US president's Thursday announcement that he plans to impose a 25% tariff on steel imports and 10% on aluminium next week.

PARIS (Reuters) - The French government aims to broaden its powers to block foreign takeovers of French companies deemed as strategic, to also include firms involved in data protection and artificial intelligence ('AI'), the finance minister said on Friday. Bruno Le Maire said he wanted the two sectors to be added to a 2014 decree requiring foreign companies to get permission from the French state before taking control of firms in the energy, telecoms, transport, water and the health industries. "I think that when you look at current economic trends, there's a certain number of sectors that could be added to this decree," Le Maire said on BFM TV. Do we really want investors to market our data? I'm thinking about artificial intelligence, a very sensitive sector that we want more investment in," he added.

PARIS (Reuters) - The French government aims to broaden its powers to block foreign takeovers of French companies deemed as strategic, to also include firms involved in data protection and artificial intelligence ('AI'), the finance minister said on Friday. Bruno Le Maire said he wanted the two sectors to be added to a 2014 decree requiring foreign companies to get permission from the French state before taking control of firms in the energy, telecoms, transport, water and the health industries. "I think that when you look at current economic trends, there's a certain number of sectors that could be added to this decree," Le Maire said on BFM TV. Do we really want investors to market our data? I'm thinking about artificial intelligence, a very sensitive sector that we want more investment in," he added.