When he talks about the transatlantic relationship, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck likes to recount a conversation he had last year with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, after the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was unveiled.
According to his telling, Habeck pointed out to Yellen on a teleconference that the U.S. legislation would create huge problems for European carmakers by shutting them out of a massive subsidy scheme for electric vehicles. “I will never forget the silence on the other side of the telephone,” Habeck recalled during a speech in Berlin last month. “Then she was very direct and said, ‘Well, I think we forgot you.’”
U.S. President Joe Biden entered the White House in 2021 promising a new approach to China, based on robust outreach to U.S. allies across the globe. A landmark agreement for Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, the historic Camp David summit in August with the leaders of Japan and South Korea, and a lavish state visit held for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June, which yielded cooperation agreements on defense and technology, have demonstrated that, when it comes to America’s partners in Asia, Biden has largely delivered. But as Habeck’s story makes clear, the results with Europe have been less than stellar.
