European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed the need to adjust EU state aid rules, argued for European funding for a European industrial policy, and insisted on upholding cordial relations with the US ahead of biannual consultations.

The bi-annual Trade and Technology Council has become an exchange forum for trade issues between the EU and the US since its launch in June 2021. Relations between the partners are at a low following EU outrage in the face of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) – a $369 billion clean industrial policy package – going into the meeting on 5 December.