On a state visit to Washington D.C, President Biden & French President Emmanual Macron met to “fix ” rising issues regarding U.S. legislation, one of which being the subsidies of American-made products, a common concern from other European countries as well. Hence, Biden’s new Inflation Reduction Act is a $430 billion bill increasing subsidies for American-made products; and to best address improving the climate crisis and encouraging renewable energy. However, other European countries claim that the new act is unfair to non-American companies as they still try to economically recover from the initial strike on Ukraine from Russia earlier this year.
France is one of the biggest economic & commercial partners of the U.S.. The trade & business conducted between the nations has established a strong relationship between the two and mutual investment in both of their markets. The execution of the Inflation Reduction Act would ideally ensure that competition would be maintained and healthy business would be continued for the benefit of both. However, I do think that this act somewhat provides an unfair “cushion” for France & the U.S. that other states in Europe aren’t in position to receive any benefit from. Therefore, like stated earlier, leaving other nations & states in Europe in even more vulnerable positions economically without much support and/or opportunities to strengthen themselves in the international market again.
This relates back to what we discussed in class because it covers the ideas of the importance of trade partners in the international system and how interactions between them will have varying impacts on other states.