Sharjah24 - AFP: President Joe Biden said on Thursday that the United States' backing for the green industry was not meant to come at the expense of Europe as he and French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to resolve a significant transatlantic trade conflict.
Speaking after summit talks at the White House, both stressed cooperation amid European Union concern that Biden's landmark Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was anti-competitive and would cost European jobs, especially in the energy and auto sectors.
"We agreed to discuss practical steps to coordinate and align our approaches so that we can strengthen and secure the supply chains, manufacturing and innovation on both sides of the Atlantic," Biden said in a joint news conference.
Biden said he would not apologize for the $430 billion IRA passed in August that largely focuses investments and investment support on climate and social spending.
But he said the IRA was never intended to disadvantage any US allies.
Instead, it aimed at strengthening industrial supply chains together with partners like Europe to protect against the kind of economic vulnerabilities that surfaced during the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
"The essence of it is, we're going to make sure that the United States continues -- and just as I hope Europe will be able to continue -- not to have to rely on anybody else's supply chain," Biden said.
"We are our own supply chain. And we share that with Europe and all of our allies, and they will in fact have the opportunity to do the same thing," Biden said.
He admitted the legislation is so large and complicated that it unavoidably has "glitches" that need to be worked out.
"My point is, we're back in business, Europe is back in business. And we're going to continue to create manufacturing jobs in America, but not at the expense of Europe," he pledged.
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