U.S. President Biden Mentions IRA at Meeting with President Yoon

U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol met in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Nov. 13. The former said that details of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act need to be formulated with South Korean EV and EV battery manufacturers’ contribution to the U.S. economy reflected.

The U.S. Congress passed the act in August this year. The act is to limit a subsidy of up to US$7,500 to EVs supplied from North America. Hyundai Motor Group currently has no EV manufacturing facilities in North America, and its first EV plant there is scheduled to be opened in Georgia in late 2024 at the earliest.

The formulation of the specifics by the U.S. Department of the Treasury is scheduled to be completed next month. At least some flexibility is anticipated from the U.S. president’s remarks, although implementation in the original form is the Democratic Party’s principle.

South Korea, Japan and European states have claimed that the subsidy rules of the act are anti-free trade. Hyundai Motor Group recently sent its opinion to the department to claim that the rules should not affect EV makers that promised plant construction before the act became effective.