LOTS OF INTERESTING THEMES as Presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron emphasized close ties this week — but acknowledged that there’s one major issue of contention.
THE TWO LEADERS vowed friendship, but we doubt there was any bromance between Hunter Biden and Rep. Kevin McCarthy who, surprisingly, were in attendance at last night’s lavish State dinner. No word on whether they discussed next year’s non-stop hearings on Biden’s business dealings.
WE WEREN’T INVITED to last night’s dinner (despite our generous support
of the French wine industry). It appears that there were two major developments:
FIRST, BIDEN AND MACRON agreed that there will be no wavering in Western
backing of Ukraine, with Biden suggesting that he could be willing to meet with
Vladimir Putin. The scenario of a truce followed by negotiations — with Macron as an intermediary — still has a flicker of hope.
THE OTHER DEVELOPMENT was Biden’s apparent willingness to make what he called “tweaks” to provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act, which is hated in Western Europe because of its subsidies to American manufacturers and tax incentives for electric vehicles and other products that are assembled in North America.
ONE CAN ONLY IMAGINE the reaction on Capitol Hill to Biden’s comment that “there’s tweaks we can make that can fundamentally make it easier for European countries to participate” in the subsidies, something that “has to be worked out.” Virtually no one in Congress has any interest in re-opening the Inflation Reduction Act, although this could be addressed in rule-making.
BIDEN AND U.S. OFFICIALS insist that the provisions were aimed at boosting supply chains to wean the U.S. off of its reliance on Chinese products. But the European Union, South Korea, Japan and the U.K. have all criticized the electric-vehicle provisions, arguing that they discriminate against their companies and violate World Trade Organization rules, as the Wall Street Journal reports this morning.
IT’S BEEN A SUCCESSFUL AUTUMN for Biden, with the economy in surprisingly strong shape and Democrats pleased with an election that could have been much worse for them.
BUT NOW IT’S DECEMBER and the world will focus on a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine this winter. Biden and Macron are united in seeking a cease-fire and the beginning of negotiations; they need to show Putin that the West is united, and that goal was met this week.
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