Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/ / AFP / Getty Images
By: The opinion Posted 05 Mar 2023, 9:49 am EST
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen will meet this week with US President Joe Bidenwithout the European Union and Washington having reached an agreement that minimizes the impact of the US green subsidies plan on European companies.
The head of the Community Executive begins a trip to North America tomorrow that will take her to Canada, where he will meet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau; and on Wednesday to the United States to hold on Friday what will be his second meeting with Biden in the White House since the Democrat took over from Donald Trump in 2021.
In addition to cooperation on clean technologies, energy and diversification of supplies, on the table will be support for Ukraine and relations with Chinaafter Washington has warned that Beijing plans to provide weapons to Russia, as reported by the European Commission and the White House.
Transatlantic relations in recent months have been marked by European anger at the US plan to subsidize the local production of clean technologies with 370 billion dollars, something that is considered discriminatory, contrary to the rules of the World Trade Organization and that , together with the escalation of energy prices, threatens to push European companies to leave the continent.
Brussels began negotiations with Washington aimed at achieving favorable treatment for European firms like the one that Mexicans and Canadians will receive, but these have not yet led to an agreement despite the fact that in recent days both parties have acknowledged progress.
In particular, on the “possibility of granting a privileged status for the EU in raw materials”, according to what the vice-president of the Commission Valdis Dombrosvkis said on Thursday, who met by videoconference with the Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, and the representative of US trade, Katherine Tai, to also address issues such as export control or tariffs on Spanish olives, in a prelude to the president’s visit.
Given the lack of guarantees from Washington, The EU is working on its own plan to encourage European clean technologies which Brussels plans to finalize in the middle of this month with the presentation of laws to improve the supply of critical raw materials and increase the manufacture of clean technology on European soil, as well as a reform of the electricity market considered key to making electricity cheaper.
In this sense, Von der Leyen and Biden will assess the results of the energy security task force they created last year for the US to help the EU reduce its dependence on Russian gas, in particular by supplying it with 15 bcm of liquefied natural gas.
In the geopolitical chapter, they will address support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression and “other international security challenges, including working together to address the challenges posed by the People’s Republic of China,” a White House spokeswoman explained.
The United States said in mid-February that China ‘is considering providing lethal support’ to Russiaa warning that he has planned on the latest international appointments, but which is rejected by Beijing – which has so far refrained from condemning the Russian aggression at the UN.
The high representative for the Foreign Policy of the EU, Josep Borrell, assured that if China provides weapons to Moscow it will cross a “red line” and said that the EU is monitoring the situation, despite the fact that the Chinese administration has informed him that they do not have intention to do it.
With information from Efe.
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