French Minister of Finance Bruno Le Maire stepped up demands for the EU to take swift and firm action in response to the climate provisions contained in US President Joe Biden’s new spending initiative.
France is concerned that several provisions in the US Inflation Reduction Act discourage investment in the EU and discriminate against European companies, particularly tax credits for US-made electric vehicles (EVs).
Le Maire said “firm and proportionate” options could include stricter environmental rules, measures to ensure preference for European production, or an acceleration of reciprocity rules. Asked if Europe could lodge a complaint with the WTO, he said the continent should use all options available.
Photo: AFP
“We must react fast. I’m calling for a united, strong and coordinated response from the EU to our American allies,” Le Maire said in an interview with Les Echos. “Only a hard line will allow us to get results.”
The US and the European Commission created a task force last month to try to resolve their disagreements, European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton said on BFM Business radio.
The EU has presented a letter to that forum with specific points that it believes contravene WTO rules.
“Either they will be resolved there — and we hope they will, that’s why we have the task force, to discuss this — or we will have to go to the WTO and envisage retaliatory measures,” Breton said.
Le Maire said he is struggling in negotiations for investment from a foreign company in the EV sector as the US is ready to offer four times the amount of subsidies.
In total, France estimates that about 10 billion euros (US$9.98 billion) of investment and 10,000 jobs are at stake.
“There is a risk of a major shock for French and European industry,” Le Maire said.
Japan joined the EU in calling planned US aid for local EV manufacturers “discriminatory,” and demanded equal treatment for the nation’s automakers.
The country’s auto industry might hesitate to invest in the electrification of vehicles in the world’s largest economy if the US offers “discriminatory incentives” to local manufacturers, Japan’s government said in a statement on Friday.
“This could cause negative impacts on the expansion of investment and employment in the US,” it said.
A multinational dispute has been raging over the recently passed US Inflation Reduction Act and subsidies to be provided through it to support green technologies in the country. The EU, South Korea and other trading partners see the aid as unfair.
The US should give Japan “treatment no less favorable” than North American countries regarding requirements concerning the final assembly of vehicles, critical minerals used for their manufacture and their battery components, the statement said.
The requirements of the EV tax credit are “not consistent” with the US and Japan’s shared policy to work with allies and like-minded partners to build supply chains, the Japanese government said, adding that the provisions “preclude Japanese businesses from enjoying the benefit.”
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
The US said it plans to help build a first-of-its-kind industrial hub in the Philippines to boost production of inputs crucial to US supply chains. The 4,000-acre hub is intended to be “a purpose-built platform for allied manufacturing” and “an investment acceleration hub where the specific industrial activities are shaped by market demand,” the US Department of State said on Thursday. The project — touted as an “economic security zone” — would be within the Luzon Economic Corridor, a flagship economic project backed by the US and Japan on the main Philippine island. The project was also described as “the first artificial intelligence
RSS