◀ anchor ▶
Due to the US Inflation Reduction Act, which subsidizes only electric vehicles made in the United States, it is expected that Korea’s electric vehicle exports will be disrupted by more than 100,000 units every year.
The government has said that it was difficult to respond because it was a law that was suddenly passed, but it turned out that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported to the Transition Committee on the ‘Better Reconstruction Act’, the so-called BBB Act and its response, which is the parent of the ‘Inflation Reduction Act’.
It is pointed out that the government’s response was not sufficient.
This is the exclusive report by Hyo-Jeong Nam.
◀ Report ▶
In response to the failure to respond to the passage of the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the government explained that it was difficult because the bill was suddenly passed.
[김영배/더불어민주당 의원 (지난 20일 대정부질문)]
“Isn’t this law passed in August? But it’s been almost a month or two now.”
[한덕수/국무총리 (지난 20일 대정부질문)]
“But I thought this law was almost dead.”
[김영배/더불어민주당 의원 (지난 20일 대정부질문)]
“I thought it wouldn’t work, and I was mourning.
However, it was confirmed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported the relevant details following the launch of the Yoon Seok-Yeol government takeover committee.
When I asked if he had reported to the Transition Committee on the ‘Better Reconstruction Bill (BBB)’, the parent of the Inflation Reduction Act, he replied that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was preparing a visit to the US by the Korea-U.S. Policy Council, and reported on the economic-related legislative trends of the US Congress including this. .
At that time, Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin was the leader of the Korea-U.S. policy consultative group sent by President Yoon as a special envoy.
In an oral report to the National Assembly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “When the policy council visited the United States, we also gave an explanation.”
The ‘better reconstruction bill’ was proposed in September last year during the Moon Jae-in administration.
Just one month later, the ambassadors to the United States sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others.
If enforced, it would undermine automakers’ efforts to expand the U.S. electric vehicle market and hurt efforts to rebuild favorable trade relations, he said.
25 countries, including the then Ambassador to the United States Lee Soo-hyuk, cooperated, and for once succeeded in deleting some of the unfavorable provisions.
Since then, the law has been temporarily pending in the Senate due to opposition from some Democrats in the United States, but warning signs have continued to emerge.
KOTRA, an agency under the Ministry of Industry, mentioned the bill several times in the Trend Report, specifying that the US Senate aims to pass it within this year.
Reports were received and the dangers were clear, but critics say that the government was not prepared enough.
[강병원/더불어민주당 의원]
“Since the report was reported to the Yoon Seok-yeol government takeover committee, we should have done everything we might to prepare a countermeasure. However, the government’s incompetent response has caused tremendous damage to our companies.”
Regarding this, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “There are many pending issues to report, so I did not report all the details.” “At the time, the semiconductor law was an issue, so the ‘Better Reconstruction Act’ only reported that unfavorable factors related to unions were removed.” .
This is Hyo-Jeong Nam from MBC News.
Video Editing: Yang Hong-seok
MBC News awaits your report 24 hours a day.
▷ Tel 02-784-4000
▷ Email mbcjebo@mbc.co.kr
▷ KakaoTalk @mbc report
