Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Trade war averted? Macron gets Biden to ‘tweak’ his industrial subsidies

Trade war averted? Macron gets Biden to ‘tweak’ his industrial subsidies

The US president conceded there were ‘glitches’ in the roll-out of America’s multi-billion-dollar package of green subsidies.
French President Emmanuel Macron snatched an unexpected win from his U.S counterpart during a visit to Washington on Thursday, getting Joe Biden to suggest that European companies could benefit from a controversial American subsidies package.

Fury has been boiling over in Europe after it became clear that Biden's Inflation Reduction Act — a $369 billion package for green industry — could drain investment out of the EU and into the U.S. Big car-making nations like France and Germany had complained that the U.S. law was potentially illegal for discriminating against foreign companies in the electric vehicle sector and encouraging consumers to "Buy American."

Macron’s visit to the U.S. had been trailed as a doomed last-ditch effort to secure a truce over Washington's largesse before the EU and U.S. would lurch into a subsidy race or full-blown trade war with countervailing tariffs.

Europeans have been pressing to receive the same rights as Mexicans and Canadians to benefit from the green cash bonanza, but with little prospect of success. For weeks, the French have been campaigning for European partners to agree to their own rival subsidy package, including a “Buy European” component.

At an affable news conference with Macron on Thursday, however, Biden conceded way more ground than had been thought possible.

"There's tweaks that we can make that can fundamentally make it easier for European countries to participate and, or be on their own, but that is something that is a matter to be worked out," the American president said. "I never intended to exclude folks who were cooperating with us. That was not the intention. We're back in business, Europe is back in business. And we are going to continue to create manufacturing jobs in America, but not at the expense of Europe."

That question of excluding Europe has been one of the major bones of contention. At a time when Europe has been paying dramatically higher energy prices than the U.S., many Europeans have seen the Inflation Reduction Act as a hostile attempt to profit from European weakness.

Several top European officials have been arguing that the EU and U.S. need to join forces against China instead of competing against each other.

That logic seemed to make headway with Biden. While making "no apology" for legislation that he said was vital to creating U.S. jobs, he noted that parts of the IRA could need a fix. "There's obviously going to be glitches in it and [we] need to reconcile changes in it," he said.

He said exemptions had been made for companies that had free-trade agreements with the U.S. but suggested that this should be extended more generally to "allies."

"There's a lot we can work out," he continued.

Macron also seemed bullish about the way things unfolded.

“We had a very good discussion on the IRA and we decided to synchronize our approaches ... as well as our investments, because we share the same strong will to secure our industries,” said Macron.

It still remains to be seen, however, how much can be achieved in practice and whether Biden was making more concessions in his friendly public appearance with Macron than he will really be able to deliver. He will, for example, be likely to face hostility in Congress over attempts to go back and fiddle with such a landmark initiative as the IRA.

It’s unclear how far Biden's administration will go in resolving issues for the Europeans at a technical level, as teams on either side still need to hash out the details. The U.S. president said the two leaders had agreed to allow their teams to "follow up” on their decisions.

This passes the small print to an EU-U.S. taskforce in charge of leading talks on trying to resolve differences on the package, but EU officials have expressed doubt concerning how much progress can be made at this level.

For the French, Biden’s unexpected concession paradoxically risks undermining Macron’s campaign at home to get the EU to roll out its own protectionist answer to the IRA.

Ahead of the visit, an adviser to Macron was briefing the press that the answer to the IRA “ultimately lay in Europe’s capacity to show it can enter the competition … and that’s the ‘Buy European Act.’”

France’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire is set to continue trade discussions with U.S. officials on Friday.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Extreme Heat Wave Sweeps Across Europe, Hitting Record Temperatures
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Germany Votes to Suspend Family Reunification for Asylum Seekers
Budapest Pride Parade Draws 200,000 Participants Amid Government Ban
Southern Europe Experiences Extreme Heat
Xiaomi's YU7 SUV Launch Garners Record Pre-Orders Amid Market Challenges
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's Lavish Wedding in Venice
Russia Launches Largest Air Assault on Ukraine Since Invasion
Massive Anti-Government Protests Erupt in Belgrade
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Hungary's Prime Minister Criticizes NATO's Role in Ukraine
EU TO HUNGARY: LET THEM PRIDE OR PREP FOR SHADE. ORBÁN TO EU: STAY IN YOUR LANE AND FIX YOUR OWN MESS.
Hungarian Scientist to Conduct 30 Research Experiments on the International Space Station
NATO Members Agree to 5% Defense Spending Target by 2035
NATO Leaders Endorse Plan for Increased Defence Spending
U.S. Crude Oil Prices Drop Below $65 Amid Market Volatility
International Astronaut Team Launched to Space Station
Macron and Merz: Europe must arm itself in an unstable world
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Iran Intensifies Crackdown on Alleged Mossad Operatives After Sabotage Claims
Trump Praises Iran’s ‘Very Weak’ Response After U.S. Strikes and Presses Israel to Pursue Peace
Oil Prices Set to Surge After US Strikes Iran
BA and Singapore Airlines Cancel Dubai Flights Amid Middle East Tensions
Trump Faces Backlash from MAGA Base Over Iran Strikes
Meta Bets $14 B on Alexandr Wang to Drive AI Ambitions
FedEx Founder Fred Smith, ‘Heart and Soul’ of the Company, Dies at 80
Chinese Factories Shift Away from U.S. Amid Trump‑Era Tariffs
Pimco Seizes Opportunity in Japan’s Dislocated Bond Market
Labubu Doll Drives Pop Mart to Status as China’s Most Valuable Toy Maker
Global Coal Demand Defies Paris Accord Goals
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
Telegram Founder: I Will Leave My Fortune to Over 100 of My Children
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
Hungary Ranked Among the World’s Safest Travel Destinations for 2025
×