US green subsidy act ‘very real competitive threat’, says UK’s Hunt

BRITISH finance minister Jeremy Hunt said on Tuesday (Feb 21) the United States’ Inflation Reduction Act, that promises hundreds of billions of dollars of subsidies to green industries, was a “very real competitive threat”.

“This is not a time when it’s going to be easy for us to access the GDP equivalent of US$369 billion,” Hunt said, speaking at a green energy conference in London, referring to the amount of subsidies in the US legislation for clean technologies.

“We have to remember in that equation that the US is somewhat coming from behind, because the previous president was not remotely interested in net-zero,” Hunt said in response to a question on the Inflation Reduction Act.

“So there is some catch-up element in what the US is doing, but it is a very real competitive threat.” REUTERS