State visit at a time like this delicate as important to transatlantic relations. French President Emmanuel Macron traveled to the United States this Tuesday night, where he will meet for three days with his American counterpart, Joe Biden, and other top officials of the Democratic administration.
Macron became the first foreign leader to be ceremonially received by Biden. state visit, the highest rank in diplomatic protocol. This reflects the relevance of the unique relations between Paris and Washington, but this trip”tense climate which has become crisis of trustAlexandra de Hoop-Scheffer, vice president of the German Marshall Fund think tank, told the French newspaper ‘JDD’. Relations between Biden and Macron, despite their apparent ideological alignment, have already started on the wrong ground due to the “submarine crisis”. And they’ve gotten nervous again in recent months.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine marked a strong Russian return. American influence on the Old Continentdestroyed by the presidency of Donald Trump. But within months, distrust grew between Washington, Paris and other European partners. “If we look at the facts simply, the United States is the country that has benefited the most from the war, because it sells gas and more weapons at very high prices,” a top European official recently told US digital newspaper Politico. ‘. Not only are French or German leaders annoyed that their American partners are selling them liquefied gas for three or four times more expensive than American companies, but so are the ambitious ones. Biden’s protectionist agenda.
Angry at Biden’s green protectionism
Specifically, there is one measure in Paris that causes toothache: US Inflation Reduction Act (“Inflation Reduction Act”). This text, approved by Congress in August, provides multimillion-dollar subsidies (total $369,000 million) to support the purchase of electric cars made in the US. repatriate large numbers of economic activities On US soil and other measures of a green conservation nature. Its entry into force next year, coupled with the energy crisis, threatens to suppress the EU’s green agenda and de-industrialize the Old Continent.
At the center of the discussions between Biden and Macron will be the war in Ukraine and the Law to Lower Inflation. Both will meet at the White House on Thursday and hold a joint press conference. Regarding the conflict in Eastern Europe, the positions of Paris and Washington seem to be in line in recent weeks. Biden administration shows growing symptoms search for a negotiated solution between kiyiv and moscow. This was reflected in the statements of General Mark Milley, but also in recent meetings with the CIA director and Biden’s security adviser with their Russian counterparts. A movement similar to Macron’s will.
“Fair competition”
On the other hand, inconsistencies are greater in economic matters, particularly Biden’s protectionist measures that target China but could trigger a trade war with Europe. The French president wants to defend that he was there at the White House “A fair competition and with the same weapons” Between North American and European companies. Specifically, it will try to achieve specific exceptions It is regulated in the Inflation Reduction Law in a way that it does not affect some sectors such as energy or some service branches.
It will take place a few days before the Macron-Biden face-to-face meeting. Trade and Technology Council of the European Union and the United StatesA body tasked with coordinating trade and industrial policies on both sides of the Atlantic. European negotiators are hoping to get concessions from the US administration on the controversial law. However, it is not clear whether they were successful.
To counter the Democratic president’s green protectionism, Macron wants to emulate some of his most iconic measures at the European level. Electric car purchasing assistance for vehicles manufactured in Europe. But given Brussels’ slow response to the energy crisis, it could take years for European examples to adopt such a device.
“China supports production, the United States supports production. Maybe it’s time to support European production,” France 3 told the television network on Sunday. Bruno Le Maire, the French Minister of Economy, regretting that the former Continent is still living “in yesterday’s globalization”, “open to the four winds”. In Paris, they are disturbed by the EU’s slowness in adapting to the current situation. The new global state of deglobalizationIt was completely undertaken by a historic but implacable ally like the United States.