French President Emmanuel Macron has fired shots at US energy and trade policies, a stance that underlies European discontent over the price the continent is paying for the war in Ukraine. “The North American economy is making choices to be attractive – which I respect – but they are creating double standards,” he said last week at the Brussels Summit. As he explained, this keeps prices low at home, that is, the US, but sends gas sales prices to third countries to unprecedented levels.
In addition, the French president said, “they allow the state subsidy to reach 80% in some sectors, while here [Europe] is prohibited’. And that creates a double standard”, he added, saying that “it’s all about the honesty of transatlantic trade.”
The EU, Bloomberg points out, is outraged by the US package of measures (Inflation Reduction Act) which provides subsidies for electric cars produced in North America and – according to European officials – an “unfair support for the green economy”.
Macron mentioned the US and Norway by name as countries that make huge profits from the sale of natural gas. His finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, echoed the president, accusing US producers of selling liquefied natural gas at four times the price of European companies.
Macron intends to raise these issues during his official visit to the US in early December.
Relations between the two countries suffered a blow last September when Australia abandoned a deal to buy French conventional submarines and opted for US nuclear submarines. The relations between the two sides were quickly normalised, after communication between the two leaders.
The two countries became very close due to the war in Ukraine, although some rifts have reappeared, reports Bloomberg.
