Eyeing China and US, EU hopes clean tech boost will spark growth
Europe's answer to bring its economy back to life is a battery of measures to be announced next week including boosting its clean tech sector and supporting energy-intensive industries by slashing red tape and costs.
There will be a drive to bring energy prices down for households and businesses, and pushing cheaper and cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels.
European companies bemoan Europe's "overregulation" -- especially environmental rules pushed by von der Leyen during her first term -- and high energy costs as impediments to competing with their American and Chinese rivals.
European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen has made it clear she is listening and changed course early in her second term, focusing on making life easier for businesses.
With Trump pushing against his predecessor's clean tech efforts, Brussels believes there is an opportunity for Europe to attract clean tech investment.
The EU's strategy -- dubbed the "Clean Industrial Deal" -- will be made up of six pillars to decarbonise the bloc's industry including incentivising more investment.
"At a time when a number of international players are calling the European model into question, the best response is first and foremost to strengthen our own model," EU industry chief Stephane Sejourne said this week.
Sejourne will unveil the measures on February 26 alongside competition commissioner Teresa Ribera.
- Protecting EU industry -
Von der Leyen's medley of measures include favouring European business and products and simplifying state aid rules but there is little information about funding.
There will be a proposal to "make European preference criteria a structural feature" for public tenders in "strategic sectors", the document said.
And the EU will establish a centre dedicated to critical raw materials -- key elements used in electronics and clean tech -- for joint purchases by groups of European firms.
Facing Trump tariffs and growing protectionism, the EU will defend its industries by ensuring "fast and efficient use" of its trade defence instruments, the 22-page document said.
"Energy-intensive industries... require urgent support to confront high energy costs, unfair global competition and complex regulations harming their competitiveness," the commission said.
The EU will also publish an "Action Plan for Affordable Energy" on February 26, a separate document in which Brussels lays out how it will cut energy costs.
A draft document seen by AFP will tell states to lower taxes on electricity bills and pool demand for joint purchases of liquefied natural gas for EU companies.
It makes no reference to Trump or his looming tariffs but von der Leyen has previously suggested replacing Russian LNG imports with US gas.
Greg Van Elsen of Climate Action Network Europe welcomed the EU not backtracking on its pledge to cut emissions but pointed to gaps.
"What's disappointing is the draft falls short of having energy savings or resource use reduction as drivers for more resilient economies. And with the financing part still lacking detail and ambition, the big question remains: who will foot the bill?" he said.
- 'Play to our strengths' -
EU lawmakers, however, welcomed the EU's initiative.
"It is the first EU instrument that puts industrial competitiveness at the centre of EU politics," said Christian Ehler, a German MEP for the right-wing EPP parliamentary group.
The backflip by "the Trump administration towards an old 20th-century carbon economy makes the US Inflation Reduction Act less attractive and could refocus global investment, especially concerning net-zero technologies, towards Europe," he added.
Trump froze funding under a law by his predecessor, which pumped billions of dollars into clean energy projects across the United States and caused consternation in the EU.
Dutch liberal MEP Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy said the commission's proposals amount to a repudiation of the false narrative that decarbonisation is holding back the European economy.
"In fact, it is the arena where we are a leader. Let's play to our strengths," he said.
raz/del/rl
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Axios
18 minutes ago
- Axios
Rubio says peace agreement "a long ways off" after Putin summit
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that "we're not at the precipice" of a peace agreement after President Trump's Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin ended without a deal on Russia's war in Ukraine. The big picture: Trump, who Axios previously reported set a ceasefire as the goal of the talks, said "we didn't get there" after the meeting. Rubio on Sunday said both sides would have to make concessions, but refused to name any that Putin agreed to. Now, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, joined by several European leaders, will travel to Washington for a potentially difficult meeting with Trump on Monday. Driving the news: Rubio, who made appearances across the Sunday political show lineup, told ABC's Martha Raddatz a ceasefire was not the aim, arguing, "You're not going to reach a ceasefire or peace agreement in a meeting" without Ukraine present. If an agreement isn't reached, Rubio said, there will be consequences — but he emphasized the administration is trying to avoid such measures. Late last month, Trump threatened to shorten Putin's deadline to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or face heavy sanctions, which he said would include "secondary sanctions and tariffs." Yes, but: Rubio on Sunday argued that if the U.S. levies additional sanctions, the "talking stops." "If this morning the president woke up and said, 'I'm putting these terrible ... strong sanctions on Russia,' that's fine — [it] may make people feel good for a couple hours," he said on Fox's "Sunday Morning Futures." "But here's what you're basically saying ... talks are over for the foreseeable future." He reiterated that view on NBC's "Meet the Press," saying that he doesn't believe new sanctions would force Putin to accept a ceasefire. "We may very well wind up in that place," he said of new sanctions. "I hope not. Because that means that peace talks failed." The other side: Democrats on Sunday blasted the president over the meeting, which began with a red carpet rollout, and denounced the lack of immediate consequences for Russia. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) described the summit as a "great day for Russia" in an interview with NBC's Kristen Welker, saying Putin left with "his photo op with zero commitments made and zero consequences." His Democratic colleague, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), said on ABC's "This Week" that Trump "got played" by Putin and that "[a]ll the threatened sanctions ... apparently have been set aside." Van Hollen called for the Senate to move ahead on bipartisan legislation that would impose new sanctions on Russia. Catch up quick: Trump, in a Truth Social post after the summit, said the meeting — and a subsequent phone call with Zelensky and European leaders — went "very well." He wrote that it "was determined by all" that a peace agreement, rather than a "mere Ceasefire Agreement" would be the best solution. Zelensky had been adamant that there must be a ceasefire before peace talks, Axios' Barak Ravid reports. The terms that Putin laid out in the summit included that Ukraine cede two of the four regions to which Russia has laid claim and freeze the front lines in the other two, Axios' Barak Ravid and Dave Lawler reported, citing two sources briefed on a call U.S. officials held with other allied leaders. Flashback: Zelensky's Monday trip to Washington comes around six months after Trump's February Oval Office meeting with the Ukrainian leader boiled over into a heated argument. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte are all expected to attend the meeting with Zelensky. Friction point: On CBS News' "Face the Nation," Rubio denied that those leaders were joining Zelensky as backup to protect him from being bullied into a deal. "This is such a stupid media narrative; that they are coming here tomorrow because Trump is going to bully Zelensky into a bad deal," he said. "We invited them to come," he added. "The president invited them to come."
The Hill
18 minutes ago
- The Hill
GM's quarterly results illustrate the folly of tariffs
General Motors, a cornerstone of American industry, is suffering the consequences of President Trump's unconstitutional 25 percent tariffs on imported vehicles and auto parts. In the second quarter of 2025, GM suffered a $1.1 billion tariff blow to its operating income, slashing the company's profit margin from a healthy 9 percent to just 6.1 percent. Net income plunged by 36.1 percent from the prior quarter and by a staggering 40.7 percent compared to a year ago. Although the estimated tariff impact for the full year of $4 billion to $5 billion is less than 3 percent of GM's overall revenue, that cost represents more than half of the typical annual income for the company over the past decade. The consequences extend far beyond GM's balance sheet. Tariffs, paid by importers to the federal government, are partly absorbed by companies and partly passed to consumers. We've especially seen this in import-sensitive sectors including furnishings, appliances, clothes and toys. Men's shirts and sweaters, for instance, rose 4.9 percent in June alone. When businesses 'eat' the cost, as GM tried to do last quarter, the fallout is no less severe. Diminished earnings mean less capital for investment in better technology or expanded operations, slowing broader economic growth, fewer resources for pay raises or new jobs — hardly the boon for workers that tariff advocates promise. The data confirms this. Nationwide, 14,000 manufacturing jobs disappeared in the past two months, erasing all gains in 2025. In June, real average weekly earnings dropped by 0.4 percent, an annualized loss of nearly 5 percent. Shareholders are also feeling the pinch. Stock valuations track a company's expected future earnings. Since 2012, GM's stock price increased by more than 200 percent. GM's price-to-earnings ratio today stands at 6.83, almost identical to 2012 levels. Stock prices increased alongside earnings. A sustained $5 billion annual hit, wiping out over half of GM's annual net income, could erase more than $20 billion in market capitalization if valuations adjust. With tariffs eroding profits, is it any wonder that GM's stock has slid 8 percent since its post-2024 election peak and now languishes 13 percent off its 2021 highs? This affects millions of middle-class Americans and retirees with pensions and savings invested. More broadly, lower dividends and diminished returns discourage investment, starving companies of the capital needed to expand. The result: slower growth, fewer jobs and weaker wage gains. GM, to its credit, is fighting to offset 30 percent of this burden by boosting U.S. production, cutting costs and increasing domestic content to comply with the USMCA trade agreement's labyrinthine rules. Yet even if successful, the net impact of $2.8 billion to $3.5 billion will devour a significant slice of GM's already thin margins. Profit margins at GM — as in most other sectors — are far less than conventional wisdom. GM's net profit margin over the past decade has averaged less than 5 percent. In other words, a $30,000 vehicle yields less than $1,500 in profit. GM's plans to shift some production to U.S. plants and rework supply chains is a testament to private enterprise's resilience. But make no mistake: These shifts sacrifice efficiency for compliance. Restructuring operations in a free market in pursuit of efficiency yields more profit, consumer benefit and economic growth. Doing so under duress to escape arbitrary tariffs may result in survival, but without these benefits. Resources that could have fueled innovation or lowered prices are now squandered on navigating artificial trade barriers. As an important sidenote, roughly half the tariff's cost stems from GM's South Korean operations, a stark reminder of the folly of taxing trade with allies. Rather than strengthening ties with democratic partners through bold free-trade agreements, these tariffs risk pushing nations like South Korea toward China, America's chief adversary. Far from economic strategy, it is geopolitical shortsightedness. Politicians sometimes prefer tariffs to other forms of taxation because they are less visible than taxes on income or sales. This makes it easier to dodge accountability by blaming 'greedy' corporations. For this reason, Trump called Jeff Bezos to deter Amazon from listing tariff costs on purchases. The White House press secretary labeled this a 'hostile and political act by Amazon.' Regardless, protectionism is not cost-free. Sustained tariffs will raise prices, shrink profits, erode real wages and slow economic growth. GM's quarterly results are a warning.
Newsweek
19 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Zelensky Ally Says He Hopes JD Vance Not at Trump Meeting
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's upcoming return to the White House will likely go smoother if Vice President JD Vance does not attend, a senior Ukrainian official has said. The Ukrainian leader's now-infamous trip to the White House in late February saw Zelensky berated by President Donald Trump and the vice president in front of the world's cameras. The visit was a dip in already strained relations between Kyiv and the Trump administration, a hideous diplomatic moment Ukrainian officials have been keen to rectify as U.S. efforts to reach a deal to end the fighting grind on. It will be better for the Ukrainian delegation if Vance is not present for Monday's meeting, Oleksandr Merezhko, the chair of Ukraine's parliamentary foreign affairs committee and a member of Zelensky's Servant of the People party, told Newsweek. The February Oval Office meeting saw Vance "provoking" the Ukrainian leader, Merezhko said. Vice President JD Vance, right, speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, left, as President Donald Trump listens in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on February 28, 2025. Vice President JD Vance, right, speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, left, as President Donald Trump listens in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on February 28, 2025. AP Photo/ Mystyslav Chernov, File) In among various barbed exchanges, Vance told Zelensky: "Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who's trying to save your country." Zelensky "learned his lesson" from February, and will aim to strike a diplomatic and respectful tone, Merezhko said. The Trump administration is less likely to "bully him again" if the Ukrainian leader is joined by Ukraine's European allies, Merezhko added. A number of Europe's heads of state have confirmed they will make the journey to Washington for the meeting at the White House with Zelensky, including British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron. Finnish President Alexander Stubb may attend, Politico reported on Sunday. The Finnish leader has bonded with Trump over a shared love of golfing while leading a country with a significant land border, and apprehension toward, Russia. Also expected to attend are Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who has pieced together a close relationship with Trump while corralling Europe toward unity. Europe has jostled hard to maintain relevance in U.S.-brokered peace talks over Ukraine, looking on with nervousness at the apparent reluctance of the current administration to punish Russia or leverage significant concessions from Moscow despite its threats to do so. European leaders met virtually with Zelensky and Trump ahead of the Republican's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, reiterating that Ukraine should be involved in negotiations and that international borders should not be changed by force. The issue of which territory Russia and Ukraine will control in a ceasefire agreement has been one of the biggest obstacles to a deal to end the fighting. Russia annexed Crimea, the peninsula to the south of mainland Ukraine, in 2014, and backed separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine that are collectively known as the Donbas, Ukraine's industrial heartland. In fall 2022, after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in the February, Russia declared Donetsk and Luhansk as annexed territory now part of Russia, along with the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. While Russia controls the vast majority of Luhansk, Ukraine retains its grip on about a quarter of Donetsk and of much of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Russia's claim to these regions is not internationally recognized. The Kremlin has positioned its territorial demands as a key sticking point in negotiations. Kyiv has repeatedly said it will not reward Russia's invasion with territory, and to cede these areas would go against the country's constitution. After the Anchorage summit, Trump told European leaders that he backed a plan in which Ukraine would cede territory it still controlled to Russia, The New York Times reported, citing two senior European officials. Reuters reported that Russia had said it would offer slivers of land it currently controls in Ukraine in exchange for Kyiv ceding chunks of land in the east that Russia does not currently control, citing sources briefed on the Kremlin's thinking. Under the proposal, Ukraine would fully withdraw from Donetsk and Luhansk, with the current front lines in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions to the south frozen in place, according to the report. Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on Sunday that despite the Alaska summit yielding no deal, Ukraine would have "Article 5-like" protections to ward off any future attempt by Russia to attack its neighbor. Article 5 is the provision in NATO's founding treaty that means that an attack on any member country in the alliance is treated as an attack on all. It is not clear how the arrangement Witkoff referred to would work. Ukraine has consistently said it needs security guarantees, and not to be bound by any limits on the size of its military. Kyiv also wants to be on the path to NATO and European Union membership. Russia wants Ukraine to be a neutral state. Expectations are low for the Monday meeting, Merezhko said. "You cannot reconcile them," he said, referring to the Ukrainian and Russian demands. "Now it is really up to President Zelensky to get it done," Trump told Fox News following the Alaska summit. "I would also say the European nations have to get involved a little bit."
