(Original title: US electric vehicle subsidies undermine the level playing field, Macron intends to win Scholz to fight back)
Financial Associated Press, October 28 (Publisher Zhao Hao)French President Emmanuel Macron is seeking the support of German Chancellor Scholz to help European car manufacturers become more competitive in the market.
On Wednesday (October 26) local time, visiting Macron and Scholz held a lunch at the Elysée, the presidential palace, to discuss how to bridge the many differences between the two countries on issues such as the energy crisis and European defense.
While no substantial progress has been made on energy, defense, etc., both sides agree that the EU needs to do more to revive industry in the Member States. Macron also revealed in a media interview that Scholz and he agreed on the idea of securing EU subsidies for cars.
Previously, the US “Inflation Reduction Act” officially became law, it will go into effect in 2023. After the bill is implemented, electric vehicles manufactured in North America are eligible for subsidies from the US government. This will give US auto companies a natural advantage in the competition and be detrimental to foreign auto companies exporting cars to the US.
Macron said: “The United States is protecting its industries, while Europe is too open to trade. We must change, France and Germany must unite.” On Monday, French finance minister Le Maire stressed that Europe should subsidize the local production of electric vehicles.
Scholz agrees, according to a person familiar with the thinking within the German government. In the middle of this month, German Vice-Chancellor and Economy Minister Habeck also said that Europe must give a strong response to the US “inflation reduction law”.
In order to boost the EU economy, as early as 2017 Macron supported the introduction of the “Buy Europeans Act” to strengthen EU anti-dumping measures. But at the time, Macron was forced to abandon those plans amid the opposition of the European Union.
Although the German government did not approve the plan at the time, Scholz’s latest remarks could mean there is less resistance to it. However, media analysis showed that, even with the support of Germany, the implementation of the “Buy European Act” on electric vehicles is still very complicated and difficult to put into practice.
