Macron Says He and Biden Will ‘Fix’ Spat Over US Subsidies Legislation
US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron walk down the Colonnade at the White House in Washington, DC, on December 1, 2022. 
French President Emmanuel Macron was reported earlier as saying he intended to resolve tensions between Brussels and Washington over the contentious $430Bln Inflation Reduction Act as early as “the first quarter of 2023”, adding that the EU hoped to be granted exemptions from the protectionist US legislation.French President Emmanuel Macron has revealed that he and President Joe Biden vowed to “fix” the spat over contentious US legislation that grants tax reductions and energy benefits to businesses which invest on American soil.“I can tell you that what we decided with President Biden is precisely to fix these issues – and they are fixable,” Macron stated during a US media interview broadcast on December 4.Stopping short of elaborating on the ways the two leaders intended to resolve the confrontation over the US state subsidy plans, Macron reiterated:“It’s urgent to fix it,” he said. “We can do it.”
WorldMacron Anxious to Resolve EU-US Spat Over Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act ‘in Early 2023’3 December, 05:25 GMTIt was earlier reported that Emmanuel Macron had pledged to resolve tensions between Brussels and Washington over the $430Bln Inflation Reduction Act as early as in “the first quarter of 2023”. Adopted in early August, the move grants generous tax breaks and energy benefits to businesses which invest in the US. Furthermore, the act encourages consumers to “Buy American” when it comes to such things as electric vehicles.
“We need to find a way to solve these issues and we need to be able to invest much stronger and faster,” the French President told journalists in New Orleans on December 2.
Macron also indicated that the European Union was angling for exemptions from the ‘protectionist’ US legislation, similar to those enjoyed by Canada and Mexico.
‘Super-Aggressive’ Policies
The French President had headed for the US on a state visit on November 30 amid rampant fears in Brussels that that EU industries, which had already taken a hit from the backfiring sanctions imposed on Russia by the bloc, would be impacted even more by Washington’s ‘super-aggressive’ policies. US policies subsidizing American companies under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) had Macron up in arms, as he pronounced them to be “choices that will split the West” amid concerns they might rob Europeans of jobs in the energy and auto industry.A similarly concerned Olaf Scholz had met with Macron in October to discuss the “unfair competition from the US” and the possible need for the EU to “strike back,” media had reported earlier. The German Chancellor and the French President during talks in Paris called the US state subsidy plans as representing “market-distorting measures.”However, after the meeting between Macron and Biden in Washington, France’s Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, said talks on the topic had shown progress.“Nobody wants a trade war in our present situation. We have one competitor – China. The strategic goal of the US, it seems to me, is not to weaken Europe but on the contrary to work in partnership with Europe,” he added.Speaking after talks with Macron, Biden claimed at a press conference that the act, which focuses investments predominantly on climate and social spending, had never been meant to put his country’s allies at a disadvantage. He said the sides had agreed to discuss practical steps to coordinate and align approaches to “secure the supply chains, manufacturing and innovation on both sides of the Atlantic.” Biden added:”The essence of it is, we’re going to make sure that the United States continues – and just as I hope Europe will be able to continue – not to have to rely on anybody else’s supply chain. We are our own supply chain.”The 46th POTUS also hinted at “tweaks that we can make that can fundamentally make it easier for European countries to participate” in the electric vehicle program.Emmanuel Macron was quoted as saying that he and Biden had a “very good discussion on the act and [the two nations] decided to synchronize their approaches.”The divisive issue is on the agenda of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council meeting on December 5, at the University of Maryland campus in College Park, Maryland, US.Participants at the TTC meeting include US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and European Commission Executive Vice Presidents Valdis Dombrovskis and Margrethe Vestager.
World’It Will Split the West’: Macron Lambasts Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act1 December, 06:41 GMT
