The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will meet this week with the president of the United States, Joe Biden, at a time of tensions between Brussels and Washington over subsidies to US companies, harmful to European companies.
On Monday, the community executive leader begins a trip to North America, starting first in Canada, where she will meet with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and then on Wednesday to the United States for what will be her second meeting with Joe Biden in the White House on Friday since the Democrat replaced Donald Trump in 2021.
According to sources from Brussels and Washington, on the meeting table will be, in addition to cooperation in the field of clean technologies, energy and diversification of the energy supply to Europe, support for Ukraine and relations with China, the recent US law against inflation, which provides direct support to US companies for sustainable investments, putting European companies at a disadvantage.
In recent months, transatlantic relations have been marked by European discontent with the US plan to subsidize the local production of clean technologies with 370,000 million dollars (about 350,000 million euros), considered discriminatory, contrary to the rules of the Organization Trade World Cup and which, along with rising energy prices, threatens to drive European companies off the continent.
Since then, Brussels has started negotiations with Washington with the aim of achieving favorable treatment for European companies, in line with what Mexican and Canadian companies will receive, but there has still been no agreement, despite the fact that in recent days both sides have acknowledged progress.
Given the lack of guarantees from the United States, the EU is working on its own plan to encourage European clean technologies, a proposal that the European Commission plans to finalize in the middle of this month and which should contain rules to improve the supply of materials. critical premiums and increase the manufacture of clean technology on European soil, as well as reforming the electricity market, which is considered key to making electricity cheaper.
The North American Inflation Reduction Act, which took effect in August of last year, aims to reduce costs for Americans, including, for example, investments in the energy sector and subsidies for electric vehicles, batteries and renewable energy projects.
However, many of these subsidies only include products made in the United States.
Last December, in a letter sent to EU leaders, Ursula von der Leyen proposed changes to state aid rules by 2023 to deal with the “double challenge” of US rules against inflation and the energy crisis.
At the same time, the president of the European Commission said in the letter that she wanted “European public investment to accelerate the energy transition.”
Acknowledging that “not all member states have budgetary space for state aid”, the official said it was necessary to “find a structural solution to boost the cleantech industry in Europe”, which implies a new sovereign wealth fund to be proposed next summer. .
Source: TSF
