Statement by President von der Leyen following her meeting with US President Biden

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

Good evening,

I am just coming from a bilateral meeting with President Biden. It was a very good meeting, very constructive. We discussed a lot of topics. I want to emphasise four different topics here.

The first topic we discussed is the Inflation Reduction Act. And indeed, we welcome the Inflation Reduction Act because it is a massive investment in the green transition moving towards a net-zero economy. It is mirrored by the Green Deal Industrial Plan in the European Union. A few weeks ago, we had already an agreement concerning electric vehicles accessing the American market.

Today, we agreed that we will work on critical raw materials that have been sourced or processed in the European Union and to give them the access to the American market, as if they were sourced in the American market. We will work on an agreement what that is concerned.

And the third point is that we agreed on a transparency dialogue concerning the incentives that are given to the clean-tech industry. For us is important on both sides of the Atlantic to know what kind of incentives are being given to the clean-tech industry to make sure that we join forces to boost the clean-tech industry. That is crucial and paramount for reaching a circular economy, a net-zero economy.

The second topic I want to mention is Russia’s atrocious war in Ukraine. Of course, we have extensively discussed that, starting with the financial budget support that the European Union is giving – 18 billion during this year, 1.5 billion per month – to Ukraine, but also discussing the way we are caring for four million refugees from Ukraine in the European Union.

A strong focus was on the question of sanctions. As you know, we have issued ten biting packages of sanctions here. The focus is now on enforcement and on preventing circumvention. This is a topic that is very important for us. And of course, the overarching message is: We will stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes.

The third topic that we have been discussing is economic security, also in preparation of the G7 leaders’ meeting in Hiroshima with the Japanese Presidency.

And last but certainly not least, we have discussed the topic of people-to-people connection between the European Union and the United States. As we know, the best foundation for a long-lasting partnership and deep friendship are the people themselves. The more young people, students, academics are crossing the Atlantic and being on the other side of the Atlantic, the better the relationship between the European Union and the United States, also for decades to come. Here, we want to emphasise on the experience we have with the Fulbright stipends and with Erasmus on the European side, how we can step up this topic and improve this topic.