The EU must “simplify and adapt” its rules on state aid in response to the US’s new $369bn climate package, which has soured transatlantic ties and sparked fears of a trade war between Brussels and Washington, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Sunday.Europe should “adjust our own rules to make it easier for public investments”, von der Leyen said, in her first set of proposals to respond to a chorus of demands from EU states to counter the US subsidy scheme.
“The new assertive industrial policy of our competitors requires a structural answer,” she said in a speech on Sunday.
US president Joe Biden has hailed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as the most “aggressive action” the US has taken to confront the climate crisis.