The EU Commission expects an early agreement with the USA in the dispute over American subsidies for battery production for electric cars. This is “within reach”, said EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis of the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “When it comes to raw materials for batteries, European companies should be treated in the same way as US free trade partners,” said the Vice President of the EU Commission. “We still have big differences in the area of renewable energies and hydrogen. There is still work to be done.”
The EU Commission expects an early agreement with the USA in the dispute over American subsidies for battery production for electric cars. This is “within reach”, said EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis of the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “When it comes to raw materials for batteries, European companies should be treated in the same way as US free trade partners,” said the Vice President of the EU Commission. “We still have big differences in the area of renewable energies and hydrogen. There is still work to be done.”
The former Latvian head of government stressed that the US and the EU are still trying to defuse numerous points of contention about the US “Inflation Reduction Act”. March is a crucial month. Then the US Treasury Department will issue guidance on the plans and see what has been achieved, Dombrovskis said.
Many points are still open
According to him, there was “a good agreement” on tax rebates for US electric vehicles: “The leasing of electric vehicles should be exempted from the discriminatory conditions of the “Inflation Reduction Act”. This also helps European companies that deliver to the USA.” However, there are still many open points.
The “Inflation Reduction Act” (IRA) in the USA is a law that also provides high tax incentives for electric cars and renewable energies. The US subsidy package, scheduled for ten years, has a volume of 370 billion dollars (currently 346 billion euros).
EU countries fear that the IRA program could give the US a competitive investment advantage. For this reason, several countries, including Germany, had called for European state aid law to be relaxed in order to keep production sites in Europe. In the future, the EU wants to allow member states more targeted subsidies for companies in order to be able to compete with the USA and China in climate-friendly technologies. Aid procedures should become simpler and faster.
Source: Stern
