U.S., E.U. will try to stay ahead of the subsidy race over chip production, official says. Illustration picture of semiconductor chips on a circuit board.
A senior Biden administration official said that the United States and the European Union will announce a joint effort to avert a subsidy race as they try to boost production of scarce semiconductor chips.
The second meeting of the U.S. Trade and Technology Council TTC will take place on Sunday and Monday in Paris.
The TTC pledged last year to improve chip supply chains, curb China's non-market trade practices, and take a more unified approach to regulation of big, global technology firms at an inauguration conference in Pittsburgh last year.
You'll see us announce. A senior administration official told reporters in a call Friday that there was a transatlantic approach to semiconductor investments aimed at ensuring security of supply.
The official said that both Washington and Brussels want to encourage chip investment and that they don't simply encourage a subsidy race.
A shortage of chips has forced some firms to scale back production due to a shortage of chips in the automotive and electronics industries. The legislation that would give chipmakers $52 billion in funding to expand output has been stalled in Congress.
The official said an early warning system to pinpoint and address semiconductor supply chain disruptions would be announced as part of the meeting, which will be headlined by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Commerce Department Secretary Gina Raimondo, and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.
The EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis and EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager will also participate, the official said.
The Council will announce a new cooperation scheme that is intended to combat disinformation online, such as false Russian claims related to its invasion of Ukraine. Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine a military operation.