The head of the European Commission: the EU will take retaliatory measures on the US law to reduce inflation

The European Union must take action to maintain a balance in connection with the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during her speech at the College of Europe in Bruges. From this informs “RIA News”.

“We need to adjust our rules to make it easier for public investment in green transformation, and pan-European funding needs to be reassessed,” she said.

How clarifies TASS, the head of the European Commission noted that neither the US nor the EU is interested in a trade war, so the answer will be prepared “in an adequate and carefully balanced manner.”

According to von der Leyen, the act adopted in the United States could lead to unfair competition and pull away from the European Union investments and supplies of rare earth resources that the EU needs to develop alternative energy.

In August, US President Joe Biden signed into law a law that should help reduce inflation. The act provides, in particular, for reducing the cost of health care, energy, reducing harmful emissions, tax reform, and reducing the deficit. In addition, a 15% minimum corporate income tax was adopted.

Earlier, the European Commission demanded that the United States change some paragraphs of the law on reducing inflation, as they are contrary to WTO rules, European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton said in November. “We have listed nine problems. We sent a letter of injunction with very specific clauses that, in our opinion, are contrary to the rules of the WTO, ”Breton said.

According to him, either the US will change these points, or the EC will have to raise this issue at the WTO level and consider specific responses.

A meeting of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council is scheduled for December 5, where the Europeans want to discuss with the Americans the problems caused by this law. The act provides manufacturers investing in the US with significant tax breaks and subsidies at a time when energy prices already make moving production to the US attractive.