Enlarge image
Emmanuel Macron (left) and Joe Biden leaving a restaurant in Washington
Photo:
LUDOVIC MARIN v AFP
The subsidies for US products in the fight against climate change have been causing tensions between EU countries and the US for weeks.
French President Emmanuel Macron has now traveled to the United States for a state visit - and spoke in unusually clear terms about the actions of the United States.
"These decisions will divide the West," he warned during a visit to the French embassy in Washington on Wednesday.
Earlier, at a luncheon with US lawmakers, he had described the subsidies as "super aggressive" towards French companies.
Macron's office declined to confirm the comment.
The US could perhaps solve its problems with it, "but it will increase my problem," Macron said at the meeting.
Without coordination between the US and the EU, "many jobs threatened to be destroyed."
"I only ask to be respected as a good friend."
In his speech at the embassy, Macron later added that the subsidies create "such differences between the US and Europe" that many companies are discouraged from investing in the US.
Despite his criticism, he described the relationship between France and the United States as "stronger than anything else."
The dispute revolves around US President Joe Biden's multi-billion dollar climate protection and social package, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed in August.
The package provides $370 billion (around €357 billion) for climate protection and energy security - the largest investment in the fight against global warming in US history.
The dispute is likely to be a central topic of talks between Macron and Biden on Thursday in the White House.
The French President arrived in the United States on Tuesday evening for a state visit lasting several days.
Significant resistance from Europe
The subsidies are met with massive criticism in the EU.
Brussels had described the Washington plans as distorting competition.
(Read a SPIEGEL interview with EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis here.)
It is feared that European companies will be disadvantaged.
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) announced possible “robust countermeasures” by the EU on Wednesday.
The US plan includes subsidies for electric cars, batteries and renewable energy projects "Made in the USA".
In this context, the car manufacturer Tesla had declared that it would reconsider its plans to build a battery factory in Grünheide, Brandenburg.
At the end of October, Minister Habeck had already called for a "strong response" to the subsidy program at European level: "Companies are being lured from Europe to the USA with these subsidies." transatlantic economic relations.
A joint working group with the USA was set up.
jok/AFP
