French President Emmanuel Macron signaled on Friday that he would discuss concerns about U.S. electrical vehicle subsidies with Vice President Kamala Harris as they met during the Munich Security Conference.
“We are working hard,” on the issue, Macron said before their meeting.
While EU countries welcome the U.S. commitment to energy transition, they fear the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act‘s (IRA’s) $369 billion of subsidies for electric vehicles (EVs) and other clean technologies could put companies based in Europe at a disadvantage.
Harris said they were also going to discuss their commitment to supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion but offered no comment about the subsidy issue before reporters were ushered out of a meeting between the two leaders.
The bill is a key part of Biden’s vision to deal with climate change, reinvigorate American manufacturing and compete with China, but it has rankled allies from Brussels to Seoul.
Macron, who U.S. President Joe Biden celebrated with a lavish state dinner in December, announced around that time that the two leaders had agreed to “fix” issues about the made-in-America EV law. But a solution from Washington that would be acceptable to France has not been forthcoming in the months since.
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President Joe Biden previously committed to building a U.S. network of 500,000 EV chargers by 2030, and has now set the standards to disburse $7.5 billion in federal funds to support that effort. Today, there are more than 3 million EVs and more than 130,000 public chargers across the country, according to the White House.