Dec 7, 2022
"I think this administration—and President Biden personally—is very much attached to Europe, but when you look at the situation today, there is indeed a de-synchronization.” In an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes, French President Emmanuel Macron highlighted the growing tension in the transatlantic relationship as the United States and Europe rift apart in a number of areas such as economics and energy. The EU has raised concerns that the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a major package of legislation signed into law by President Biden earlier this year, will severely damage European industry through its use of subsidies and tax credits to promote manufacturing in the US. The dispute was at the core of discussions between the US and France during President Macron’s state visit to the US last week. Another area of disconnect relates to the differing approaches the EU and the US take towards China. While the US views China as a threat, European countries have a more dovish approach, favoring cooperation to competition. This was underscored by the recent visits of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Council President Charles Michel to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the former of whom recently declared in an essay for Foreign Affairs that the world is facing a "Zeitenwende"—the end of an era. Both visits were criticized by China hawks given their proximity to the party congress where President Xi was enshrined for another five years, becoming its most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. This week in a bonus episode, Jorge, Francois, and Julian discussed the fractious state of US-EU trade relations, as well as the diverging approaches to China.
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