Concerns mount in the UK over IRA

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
23 Dec 2022 22:38

The IRA proves to be more appealing to industrialists and manufacturers in the EU as it includes tax cuts for American-made electric vehicles and batteries.

Shoppers throng Oxford Street in the lead up to Christmas in London, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022 (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

In a letter sent to the US' Trade representative Katherine Tai, the UK expressed opposition over the US green subsidies - an integral part of the US' Inflation Reduction Act which has recently sparked turmoil among the EU's biggest economies.

In the letter, UK Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch stressed that the American initiative worth around $370 billion would "harm multiple economies" and "undermine UK-US trade and investment flows."

In a bid to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy, the IRA proves to be more appealing to industrialists and manufacturers as it includes tax cuts for American-made electric vehicles and batteries.

Badenoch said the Act would "harm multiple economies across the world and impact global supply chains in batteries, electric vehicles, and wider renewables", she said as quoted by FT.

The subsidies "also undermine our shared goals to promote free and fair trade internationally", Badenoch was quoted as saying by The Times.

"The UK expects to be and should, as the closest of US allies, be part of any flexibilities in the implementation of the IRA," she added.

In recent months, relations between the EU and the US have not been as smooth. Last month the EU condemned the subsidies offered to American companies in President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, giving them unfair leverage over their European rivals.

Back in October, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed that American subsidy plans will end up distorting the market, as they intend to sway companies to shift production to the US.

The UK has already announced it joined the EU in opposing the Act, but European leaders have been scrambling on ways to push for amending the IRA.

Unlike trading partners with the EU, the IRA has exemptions set for products from its NAFTA partners, and the EU has been calling for these exemptions to be extended to the EU.

On December 4, Bernd Lange, the chair of the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade, stated that the EU should lodge a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the US regarding the contentious Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

On December 17, China's Commerce Ministry said thirty-two member-states of the World Trade Organization (WTO) sent the US over 2000 inquiries over the week regarding its discriminatory trade policy.

Among the inquirers include some key allies of the US, namely Canada, Japan, South Korea, and the EU.

"Thirty-two WTO member states sent more than 2,000 written questions to the US concerning the compliance of the recently adopted Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS Act, and related measures, as well as the US state procurement policy and national security with WTO rules," the Ministry said in a statement.

And on December 22, in a bold move against the US, Macron said that European countries should be more decisive in the NATO alliance and reduce their “reliance on the US," highlighting the necessity to develop more autonomy in technology and defense capabilities, including from the US.