(ANSA) - BRUSSELS, DECEMBER 04 - There is a risk that the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the maxi measure against inflation adopted by the United States, "leads to unfair competition, could close the markets and fragment the same value chains criticisms already put to the test by Covid. We must examine these aspects closely and, at the same time, learn what we can do better": said the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, speaking in Bruges, who added that the IRA "should make us think about how to improve our state aid frameworks and adapt them to a new global environment".
However, Von der Leyen said she was against a 'trade war' with the US: "Europe will always do what is right for Europe. So yes, the EU will respond in an appropriate and well-calibrated way to the US inflation law. But does this mean that we will engage in a costly trade war with the United States in the midst of a real war? This is not in our interest. Nor in the interest of the Americans" "For the EU executive leader however, "we need to consider three aspects particularly challenging: first, the 'Buy American' logic underpinning part of the IRA;
secondly, tax breaks that could lead to discrimination;
and third, production subsidies which could lead to a run on subsidies."
As for the European Union, "although it is essential that Member States have the flexibility to invest their budgets in strategic sectors, this approach cannot stand alone, because it would favor states with deep pockets and lead to distortions that would ultimately undermine the single market. We therefore have need a common European response to this challenge, both in the short and medium term. The new assertive industrial policy of our competitors requires a structural response. In my State of the Union address, I introduced the idea of establishing a sovereign wealth fund".
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