WASHINGTON: French President Emmanuel Macron raised his country’s and European concerns about subsidies for US-made products at a summit with Joe Biden in Washington on Thursday.

The French grievance related to a recently adopted law, known as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a $430 billion bill that offers massive subsidies for US goods.

Macron and other European leaders say the legislative package signed by Biden in August is unfair to non-American companies and would be a serious blow to their economies as Europe deals with the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

At a meeting on Wednesday with US lawmakers, President Macron was quoted as saying the act was “super aggressive” toward European companies, one participant said.

In his address, President Biden welcomed his French counterpart to the White House to “celebrate more than 200 years of US-French relations” and a renewed alliance in fighting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Biden hosted Macron at the first state visit since the US leader took office in January last year. Biden and his wife Jill greeted Macron and his wife Brigitte with hugs, kisses and broad smiles.

The two couples, who dined together informally on Wednesday, took part in a ceremony that featured a military honour guard, a red-jacketed colonial band with the Fife and Drum Corps and national anthems.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2022