Ssubsidizing French and European electric cars rather than Chinese, this is not protectionism but a “solid common sense”. “Why would we be the only space in the world that likes what our competitors are doing? », questioned Emmanuel Macron on May 11, presenting his plan for the “industrial reconquest” in the village hall of the Elysée, in front of 300 business leaders and elected officials fully committed to the cause.
The ecological transition is the scene of a new commercial clash between powers, of which the battle for the electric car is the spectacular illustration. A year ago, American President Joe Biden presented his Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which mobilizes nearly 400 billion dollars (374 billion euros) of public money in ten years to encourage production in United States, to which Europe responded with a massive expansion of the state aid framework. China, for its part, has devoted nearly 100 billion dollars to the creation of an electric vehicle production sector since 2009.
In this context, Bercy must publish a long-awaited decree in the coming days, which will de facto deprive electric cars produced far from France of the 5,000 euro purchase bonus. A “little revolution” for the Head of State, who immediately clarified: “That doesn’t mean we’re engaging in protectionism. »
“A change in economic philosophy”
Always think about it, never talk about it. In public debate as among economists, the very word remains radioactive. Politicians associate it with the idea of retrenchment, economists fear its effect on prices, especially in times of inflation. However, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, does not hide it, he would happily assume responsibility for “talk about European preference”. “I want public aid to be reserved for European products, there are 1.2 billion euros at stake”, he says about the ecological bonus. This is also what the United States is doing, which has conditioned aid to the IRA on an explicit criterion of “local content”, in line with the border taxes applied by the Trump administration. Which has already made protectionism the heart of its future big return to the political scene in 2024.
In principle, neither the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), nor the European treaties, which exclude location criteria, allow France to do the same, at least not without the agreement of its European partners. The famous “community preference” on which the post-war European project was based is in fact not a legal principle, but a political objective. “It’s a fight that France must lead in Brussels”, continues the Minister of the Economy. In the meantime, France is tricking by using the normative route, without waiting for Brussels or Berlin: the bonus will go to vehicles whose manufacturing generates the least CO2. “We go the environmental route where we should go the political routepleads Bruno Le Maire. No European content, no bonuses! »
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