Bruno Le Maire and Robert Habeck obtain mini-concessions on IRA from the Americans

The French and German Ministers for the Economy, Bruno Le Maire and Robert Habeck, were in Washington on 6 and 7 February to try to negotiate more favourable conditions for European companies in the framework of the IRA.

They met with White House Deputy Security Adviser Mike Pyle, White House Economic Adviser Brian Deese, Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin.

The aim of this visit was to advocate that “as many European components as possible should also benefit from these American tax credits and subsidies”, said Mr Le Maire ahead of the various meetings in the US capital. And the visit was a success in this sense, according to the two ministers: “We have agreed to extend access to the IRA to as many European components as possible”, said Bruno Le Maire.

However, this commitment needs to be implemented in detail and therefore passes the quid to the IRA Task Force between Ursula von der Leyen’s cabinet and the White House.
In addition, the two ministers indicated that they had obtained from the Americans “full transparency on the amount of aid provided by the IRA”, said Mr Le Maire after the meeting. This would allow the EU to adjust the amount of its own aid through a “matching clause” system.

Mr Habeck added that both parties had agreed to “invent a technical group to translate this transparency” as part of the IRA Task Force.

The French Minister had earlier mentioned to the press the possibility of a hotline at ministerial level to deal with strategic investments on both sides of the Atlantic, which would deserve each other’s attention. This is despite the existence of the EU-US Task Force on the IRA and the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC), which aims, among other things, to coordinate the approaches of the two transatlantic partners in certain critical sectors, and above all, to promote bilateral trade.