Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and Joe Biden, President of the United States, held initial talks last Friday on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The law, which will be passed in the U.S. in 2022, is intended to counter inflation on the one hand and to advance climate protection on the other.

The EU shall benefit from the IRA

In the future, European companies are to benefit from the IRA support programs. Critical raw materials from the EU are to get better access to the U.S. market. Thus, von der Leyen writes in her statement after the meeting with Biden: “We want to give them [critical raw materials] the same access to the U.S. market as if they were procured on the U.S. market.” She added that an agreement would be worked on in this regard.

The European equivalent of the IRA is the Green Deal Industrial Plan.

Cleaner technology, fewer tariffs

At the same time, the U.S. and the EU are in talks about promoting clean technologies. Here, effective incentives are to be created for industry. In addition, tariffs in the transatlantic steel trade are an issue. Here, additional tariffs are to be prevented in the long term.

Sources: EU Commission, DIHK (german)