European leaders are willing to start a transatlantic fight over Joe Biden’s climate-friendly tax law, dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act, even though it’s dedicated to boosting green tech and moving toward a carbon-neutral future. They’re upset over the subsidies it will dole out, which they say give American firms an unfair leg up.
“Elements of the IRA risk un-levelling the playing field and discriminating against European companies,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote to the European Union’s 27 leaders on Wednesday. She also unveiled a four-point plan for how to fight back against the American law that would give member states more latitude to invest in their own companies and that would possibly redirect EU funds to firms in need.