Britain baulks at Biden’s £330bn green subsidy package 

Britain has voiced its disapproval of Joe Biden’s extensive US package for green subsidies, warning they are protectionist and could harm UK energy firms. 

Kemi Badenoch, the UK’s international trade secretary has reached out to her US counterpart, criticising the Biden administration’s £327bn ($395bn) green economy package.

In a letter seen by the Financial Times, Badenoch said that the US subsidy package would “harm multiple economies across the world and impact global supply chains in batteries, electric vehicles and wider renewables“. 

The European Union, South Korea and Canada have also claimed that Biden’s subsidies undermine World Trade Organization rules by tying aid directly to US local production. 

According to the FT, Badenoch said “the UK expects to be and should, as the closest of US allies, be part of any flexibilities in the implementation of the IRA”, the Inflation Reduction Act, aimed at supercharging the US Green economy,

She added however, it shouldn’t be at the expense of free trade. This comes after the US and UK were unable to sign a post-Brexit trading agreement.

Jim McMahon MP, Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary, told CityAM “all the Conservatives offer on trade is broken promises. Worse still, on issues of investment to tackle climate change, it does not help that we have an International Trade Secretary who compared reaching net-zero to ‘unilateral economic disarmament’. “