EU lawmaker and head of the European Parliament’s trade committee Bernd Lange (S&D) is calling for taxes to be imposed on US-produced hydrogen – a move Lange views as the bloc’s response to the €370 billion US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) aimed at increasing green investments.
IRA, a programme offering subsidies and tax credits to producers of clean tech, such as hydrogen, wind turbines and electric vehicles, has been heavily criticised by EU lawmakers as it includes “Buy American” clauses favouring domestic production.
Lange, head of the EU Parliament’s powerful Committee on International Trade, has now called for a more assertive approach to EU trade policy, saying, “we will also talk to the Americans again”.
The Inflation Reduction Act offers tax credits for hydrogen production, a gas used as an energy carrier and needed for low-carbon steel production. US states often offer additional subsidies for regional production sites.
“If you produce hydrogen in Texas now, then first you get the infrastructure subsidised. If you install additional wind energy, another subsidy. And production is subsidised for ten years, which we don’t do at all in Europe,” Lange said on Tuesday at a conference organised by German trade union IG BCE.
“If it is really possible through this triple subsidy that they achieve a hydrogen price of $2 per kilogram, which is what they are aiming for – I think we are at €9 at the moment – that is a situation that is unacceptable,” Lange said.
“Therefore, we will tell our American friends that we will not accept these illegal subsidies – which are also illegal within the WTO framework – and we will initiate anti-dumping measures accordingly,” he added.
Anti-dumping measures are tariffs the EU can impose on imported goods sold below “normal value”, usually considering production costs, which is seen as “dumping” and, therefore, illegal under international trade rules.
Imposing tariffs on hydrogen imports from the US might be necessary, “just as we do with China and also with products and services from state-owned enterprises,” Lange added.
“We have to be a bit more assertive in the European Union than we used to be, where we were completely open about our market situation,” he added.
While the EU currently imposes five anti-dumping measures on products from the US, it imposes 96 such tariffs on products from China, according to the 2022 annual report.
(Jonathan Packroff | EURACTIV.de)
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