The writer is research director at the European Council on Foreign Relations and a former official in the US state department
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, arrives in Washington on Friday amid what seems a typical US-EU dispute. The passage in the United States of new industrial policy measures such as the Inflation Reduction Act and the Chips and Science Act has caused much gnashing of teeth in Brussels. Many Europeans feel that the US, to better arm itself in its competition with China, is taking decisions without paying much attention to European economic interests.
In fact, rather than resembling past rows over issues such as aircraft subsidies or sanitary standards, this debate is likely to follow a new rhythm for US-European economic relations. Call it “ex-post co-ordination”.