The Finance minister has urged Brussels to stand up to Washington after it offered US companies major tax breaks for bringing production home, exacerbating the decline in EU competitiveness
PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th November, 2022) The Finance minister has urged Brussels to stand up to Washington after it offered US companies major tax breaks for bringing production home, exacerbating the decline in EU competitiveness.
"Europe must protect its interests. No one will be giving us gifts neither China nor the US," Bruno Le Maire told French financial daily Les Echos in an interview published on Monday.
Le Maire said the European Union needs to tell the United States clearly that it has a problem with the Inflation Reduction Act that the US adopted in August, he said. The EU is already looking at "every lever at our disposal," he added, including filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization.
"I call for a coordinated, united and strong response of the EU to our American allies. Firmness alone will not allow us to achieve results," he said.
Le Maire admitted that European industry was suffering from a "competitiveness deficit" due to a gap in energy prices between the US and Europe.
"Massive subsidies offered by the United States' Inflation Reduction Act and equally heavily subsidized competition from China risk widening this gap ever further," the minister warned.
