French President Emmanuel Macron will be hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden next week in a rare state visit aimed at highlighting Franco-American friendship rather than the bitter economic competition between the two sides of the pond.
But the elephant in the Oval Room will be the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Europeans say the massive subsidy package to U.S. manufacturers could deal a lethal blow to their industries, which are already reeling from high energy prices caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Macron will try to convince the United States it is in their interest not to weaken European companies at a time Western allies are facing intense economic competition from China, which they say uses its economic might as diplomatic leverage."The pitch will be: there's obviously a Chinese challenge and we can help get others in the EU out of their naivete on this. But you can't ask us to help on China and do an IRA on us," a French diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
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