French President Emmanuel Macron | Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images Macron: Blocking Huawei ‘not best way to defend national security’ ‘France and Europe are pragmatic and realistic,’ French president says.

French President Emmanuel Macron rebuffed Donald Trump on Thursday over his executive order targeting Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei, saying that Paris has no intention of launching a “trade or tech war.”

“Our perspective is not to block Huawei or any company,” Macron told reporters at the opening of the VivaTech conference in Paris. He said "launching a trade or tech war vis-a-vis any country is not appropriate,” adding “it’s not best way to defend national security."

“France and Europe are pragmatic and realistic. We do believe in cooperation and multilateralism. At the same time, we are extremely careful about access to good technology and to preserve our national security and all the safety rules," the French president said.

Macron's reaction comes hours after Trump signed an executive order laying the groundwork to block Chinese telecommunications companies like Huawei from selling equipment in the U.S.

The move comes amid a trade war with China, as the two world powers seek to strike a new trade deal. But it is also meant as a signal to U.S. allies, whom the U.S. has urged for months not to let Chinese firms build and operate the 5G networks that will soon power cellphones and the growing ecosystem of internet-connected devices.