EU chief flags concerns about Biden’s ‘buy American’ climate plans

(5 Dec 2022) European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed the need to adjust EU state aid rules, argued for European funding for a European industrial policy, and insisted on upholding cordial relations with the US ahead of biannual consultations.

The bi-annual Trade and Technology Council has become an exchange forum for trade issues between the EU and the US since its launch in June 2021. Relations between the partners are at a low following EU outrage in the face of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) – a $369 billion clean industrial policy package – going into the meeting on 5 December.

“The Inflation Reduction Act is also raising concerns here in Europe, against a very particular backdrop for our industry and economy,” von der Leyen told students at the College of Europe on Sunday (4 December).

She singled out three aspects of the IRA: the “Buy American” logic that underpins parts of the subsidy scheme, tax breaks for companies producing in America, and “production subsidies that could lead to a subsidies race.”

This would have real effects on companies’ choice of production location. “We have all heard the stories of producers that are considering to relocate future investment from Europe to the US,” she adde

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, 5 Dec 2022: EU chief flags concerns about Biden’s ‘buy American’ climate plans