Macron to raise US subsidies in talks with Biden

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron will raise concerns about the effects of American industrial subsidies and tax breaks during talks with US President Joe Biden in Washington next week, a top French official said. France and other EU countries are increasingly alarmed that the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which Biden signed in August, will distort transatlantic trade to give American companies an unfair advantage.

The act, designed to accelerate the US transition to a low-carbon economy, contains around $370 billion in subsidies for green energy as well as tax cuts for US-made electric cars and batteries. “We cannot risk more de-industrialisation in Europe at a time when we’re trying to re-industrialise,” a senior aide to Macron told reporters ahead of the French leader’s trip to Washington from Tuesday night.

The biggest concern is about “American investment in Europe being repatriated,” he said during a briefing ahead of what will be the first state visit by a foreign leader to Washington under Biden. Although Macron appreciates no major changes can be made to a law seen as one of Biden’s main legislative achievements, he is hoping to carve out “exemptions” to help European industries. “We can imagine that the American adminstration agrees to exemptions for a certain number of European industrial sectors, perhaps in the same way as they’re doing for Canada and Mexico,” the aide added. Macron, 44, has long favored a Buy Europe Act that would offer incentives and requirements for consumers and governments to buy EU-made equipment. But the idea faces resistance from countries such as the Netherlands and Germany, which worry about the costs and the impact on trade. “The message from the Americans is ‘Do your own IRA’,” the French aide said. Macron “will draw the necessary conclusions for us as Europeans from the conversations”, he added.