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As the US enacted a law that subsidizes electric vehicles made in its own country, the Korean government is struggling with how to respond.

It also said that it would respond together with other countries with similar circumstances to ours, but as a result of the coverage, the European Union publicly stated that it was difficult to oppose the law, and Japan was also found to be passive.



Reporter Jeong Hye-jin reported exclusively.



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When the US Inflation Reduction Act, the IRA, was promulgated, the Korean government belatedly held a public-private joint meeting and pledged to take a full-fledged response.



He also said that he would pursue joint response with other countries that do not receive electric vehicle subsidies.



[Lee Chang-yang / Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy (last August 25): The inflation law will affect other automobile producing countries such as the EU, Korea, and Japan.

Once it goes to the WTO, multilateral cooperation (such as the EU) is possible.]



However, at the end of August, four days after the meeting, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy prepared an internal report titled 'Trends and Positions of Major Countries in the US Inflation Reduction Act'.



This includes the contents of what the EU embassy in Korea said in a meeting with the Korean side, "It is difficult to openly oppose it because it is building cooperative relations with the United States due to the Russia-Ukraine war."



The Ministry of Industry and Commerce also said, "It is understood that the EU is concerned that the US may be cooperating with China, which is likely to sue the WTO."



In the first half of this year, he added, "Germany, Japan, and Sweden were all found to be in a similar position to the EU," he added.



The Ministry of Industry and Trade reported the contents of this report to the National Assembly as it was last week.



Cooperation is not easy, and contact and consultations with the countries concerned for a month have not yielded much results.



[Shin Young-Dae / Member of the National Assembly Industry Resources Committee: It is not easy to induce international cooperation in relation to the US IRA because the evaluations and positions of governments around the world are different.

[Our government's] diplomatic capacity seems to need a fundamental check.]



Regarding this, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said, "All of these countries have stated that the IRA violates the provisions of the WTO, and our government is still pursuing cooperation."



(Video coverage: Kim Nam-seong, video editing: Hwang Ji-young)