Washington (EFE).- The US president, Joe Biden, and the president of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, began their meeting at the White House this Friday with the focus on Ukraine and the expectation that reach an agreement on key minerals for electric vehicles.
Biden welcomed von der Leyen to the Oval Office and reminded him that, two years ago when he came to power, they inaugurated a “new era” of cooperation that has borne fruit, for example in cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the United States to help Ukraine in the war against Russia.
Von der Leyen also highlighted the coordination of the two powers to fight for the “freedom” of Ukraine and “make Russia pay”.
The two leaders mentioned that clean energy will be on the agenda for their meeting, but did not go into details.
Strong emphasis on economics
As a senior US official told the press, Biden and Von der Leyen will announce this Friday the start of negotiations for a trade agreement that will ensure access for the two economies to key minerals used in the manufacture of electric vehicles and batteries for other renewable energy.
China currently has a near monopoly on extracting and processing those minerals, so the US-EU deal also seeks to minimize its dependence on the Asian giant.
Washington hopes that this agreement will serve to alleviate the tensions that have marked the transatlantic relationship in commercial matters in recent months.
At Biden’s request, Congress last year approved the so-called Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which includes an aid package to promote the energy transition of 370,000 million dollars (about 350,000 million euro).
Among other things, the law offers tax incentives to companies that make electric vehicles with components made in the United States.
The EU considers that measure protectionist and is concerned that European companies will move from Europe to the United States to take advantage of these tax breaks.
In response to the measures taken by the US, the European Commission presented last month the so-called “Green Deal Industrial Plan” to facilitate the granting of subsidies to green industries.