French President Emmanuel Macron criticized his host on the first day of his state visit to Washington, telling U.S. lawmakers Wednesday that industrial subsidies imposed under the Joe Biden administration are ultra-aggressive toward French competitors, Voice of America reports

"This is super aggressive to our business people," Macron said at a luncheon with Congress members and business leaders at the Library of Congress, AFP News Agency reported. He told lawmakers the policies will "kill a lot of jobs" in Europe unless they are synchronized globally.

Macron was referring to Biden's signature Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which would invest billions of dollars in clean industries with strong support from American manufacturers.

The White House advertises the IRA as a groundbreaking attempt to revive U.S. manufacturing and promote renewable technologies, but European Union governments resent the legislation, threatening to launch a trade war to subsidize their own green economy sector.

The words of Macron, who said he just wants to be respected as a good friend, overshadowed a carefully planned state visit designed to celebrate historic U.S.-French ties as well as address the greater challenges facing the Transatlantic Union of the United States and the EU.

The White House says the state visit is related to the warm relationship the two presidents have established.

U.S. advances in clean energy will help Europeans as well, spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre said. The IRA, she said, "opens up significant opportunities for European firms as well as benefits for EU energy security. This is not a competition in which one man's gain becomes another man's loss. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)