EU sends Ursula von der Leyen to cash in on IRA and green agenda

The European Union wants to reach agreements with the United States on access to climate subsidies in the short term that President Joe Biden’s administration previously announced. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is in Washington next week.

Biden recently announced hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks to support American industry in accelerating the transition to clean energy.

This led to resistance in the European Union, as state aid threatens to put European industry at a disadvantage. The European Commission would now send for agreements with which EU member states as a free trade partner of the USA can also gain access to a number of these aid measures.

Von der Leyen and Biden are trying to reach agreements in principle next week on access to strategically important raw materials, the labor market and sustainability, among other things. This could give the EU a status equivalent to that of a free trade partner of the USA, so that member states could also benefit from the climate subsidies.

Last month, European Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis already stated that the US is open to granting the EU that status. That would help address “discriminatory aspects” of the Inflation Reduction Act, as Biden’s bill for the billion-dollar subsidies is called.