"The USA is our value partner, but at the same time there is an enormously protectionist economic policy," Lindner told the "Welt am Sonntag". That is why the federal government must represent German interests in Washington and point out the negative consequences.
The US and Europe are currently at odds over Biden's multi-billion dollar climate protection and welfare package passed in August, known as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). It provides 370 billion dollars (around 357 billion euros) for climate protection and energy security - including subsidies for electric cars, batteries and renewable energy projects "Made in the USA". The subsidies are met with massive criticism in the EU: there are fears that European companies will be disadvantaged and that important sectors of the economy will migrate.
In principle, SPD leader Saskia Esken welcomed the fact that the USA had committed to an ambitious climate protection policy. She added in the "Welt am Sonntag": "Unfortunately, US legislation also has clear protectionist traits, which we view very critically." Green leader Omid Nouripour also told the newspaper: "We must not put obstacles in each other's way on the way to climate neutrality." The economic policy spokeswoman for the Union parliamentary group, Julia Klöckner, fears that European companies will be "massively disadvantaged".
The SPD MEP Lange said about the lawsuit he was requesting against Washington, which was intended to clarify "that the US's actions are clearly not compatible with WTO regulations". The head of the trade committee in the European Parliament made the comments ahead of a meeting of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council on Monday, at which representatives from Washington and Brussels want to discuss the massive European concerns about the IRA subsidies.
According to Lange, it is assumed that some small changes to the US package could still be agreed in the talks - but not much will change substantially. That is why the EU, for its part, must now step up its support for domestic industry, he demanded.
For his part, EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton called for the creation of a "European sovereignty fund" to support industrial projects. The US plans would create a "competitive imbalance at the expense of companies in the European Union," he told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper. A working group with representatives from the White House and the EU Commission has therefore already been set up.
According to the Union economic expert in the EU Parliament, Markus Ferber (CSU), the EU Commission must consider activating the so-called European trade defense instruments if the USA does not take a step towards Europe at the meeting on Monday. "That would certainly be the nuclear option and in the current situation it would be anything but desirable," said the economic policy spokesman for the EPP group to the Funke newspapers. Nevertheless, the European side must "put all instruments of torture on the table".
During a recent visit to the United States, French President Emmanuel Macron described Washington's measures as "super aggressive" and warned: "These decisions will divide the West."
