Xinhua News Agency, Davos, Switzerland, January 21 (International Observation) Throughout Davos, the U.S.-EU trade dispute has been turbulent for an endless period
Xinhua News Agency reporter Guo Shuang Li Chao
From the opening day of the World Economic Forum’s 2023 Annual Meeting, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urgently announced the response to the US “Inflation Reduction Act”, to the debate on “Europe First or America First” at the closing, the US-EU trade dispute can be regarded as a fundamental issue. One of the hottest topics discussed at the annual conference.
In the view of some participants, the United States and Europe showed no sign of mutual compromise during the annual meeting, and the economic and industrial interest disputes have changed from undercurrent to full disclosure.
The United States has multiple “bundles” with Europe
In the Swiss town of Davos, the U.S.-EU dispute revolves around the U.S. inflation-cutting bill. The United States claims that the bill aims to revive the U.S. economy, which is plagued by persistent high inflation, while the European Union is worried that these discriminatory subsidies will distort the market and induce companies to shift their production bases from Europe to the United States, greatly weakening Europe’s competitiveness in automobiles, batteries, Industrial competitiveness in areas such as clean energy has hurt employment in European countries.
Participants believed that the bill is another “bundling” measure for the United States to its European allies after the security and energy aspects, and it may trigger upstream and downstream enterprises in related industries to “leave the EU and turn to the United States.”
As the Ukrainian crisis continues, the EU and the United States show a reactive stance due to security concerns, while the United States “loots” Europe, not only selling natural gas and arms to Europe at high prices, but also adopting policies that include huge industrial subsidies and curb competition. Multiple bills have caused strong dissatisfaction in many European countries.
“We Europeans need to better cultivate our own clean technology industry.” Von der Leyen said on the opening day of the annual meeting that the EU hopes to avoid disruptions in transatlantic trade and investment, and strive to ensure that the respective incentive programs in Europe and the United States are “fair and complementary.” .
Europe struggles
German Chancellor Schulz said during the annual meeting that the “Inflation Reduction Act” should not contain any discrimination, “protectionism hinders competition and innovation, and is not conducive to slowing down climate change.” British Business Secretary Grant Shapps said more bluntly: The behavior of the United States is “dangerous”.
But the United States does not intend to back down. The only way to avoid catastrophic damage caused by climate change is for the government and businesses to invest heavily.
On the opening day of this annual meeting, Von der Leyen launched the EU’s response to the US “Inflation Reduction Act”: the “Green Deal Industry Plan”. The intention is “to make Europe home to clean technology and industrial innovation, on a path to net zero emissions”. However, the lack of clarity on how the project will be funded makes the plan look weak.
There are also different voices in Europe. Some European business people are excited about the green subsidies in the “Inflation Reduction Act”, and believe that the EU needs to match the US government’s approach.
“It’s an obvious problem … it has shaken the EU, it’s shaken up the discussion between politics and industry,” said Kadeli, chief executive of Belgian chemicals giant Solvay, in Davos.
Emerging markets are hard to get fair
In view of the investment and subsidy competition between the United States and Europe, Georgieva, president of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), told a short story on the closing day of the annual meeting: two people were chased by a bear in the forest, and one took out sneakers, while another asked if he really thought he could run faster than a bear in sneakers, to which he was told: I just need to run faster than you.
“(However) in the climate crisis, we all need sneakers,” Georgieva said. “If we only focus on making industrialized countries clean, and not emerging market countries, then we will all be ‘ Cooked’.”
Although developed countries, including the United States and Europe, have expressed positive attitudes in addressing climate change, they have shown negative attitudes in providing financial and technical support to developing countries, and their previously promised financial support of US$100 billion per year has not been fulfilled . Not only that, affected by the energy crisis, the climate policies of many European countries have “swung back”, delaying the process of coal withdrawal and emission reduction, and increasing the purchase of liquefied natural gas from the United States.
French Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry, and Digital Sovereignty Bruno Le Maire believes that under any circumstances, subsidy competition should not escalate into a trade war. One has to be careful not to further divide the world on trade issues like this. Georgieva urged countries to “be pragmatic, cooperate and do the right thing. Keep the global economy integrated for the benefit of all of us.”
The theme of this year’s conference is “Strengthening Cooperation in a Divided World“. Advocating a positive-sum game rather than a zero-sum game, finding the common ground that may expand cooperation, and exploring effective mechanisms for expanding cooperation are very important in the post-epidemic era when the economies of all countries urgently need to recover, and it is also the gist of the joint response to the crisis. .