PARIS—French President Emmanuel Macron rejected calls to abandon a new fuel tax that has drawn the ire of rural protesters, as he unveiled an energy policy that seeks to straddle demands from the environmentalist wing of his party and increasingly restive demonstrators.
Faced with two weeks of violent demonstrations across the country by protesters clad in yellow reflective safety vests, or gilets jaunes, Mr. Macron refused to back down on Tuesday, saying the government “shouldn’t change course, because [the energy policy...