Korea, U.S. to hold working-level talks on EV tax credits

U.S. President Joe Biden, right, shakes hands with Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun after a speech on the Korean carmaker's investment plan in the United States in Seoul on May 22, 2022. [Yonhap]

Korea and the United States will hold working-level talks this week on ways to minimize impacts the U.S.' Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) would have on Korean electric vehicles over its discriminatory tax incentives rules, the trade chief said Tuesday.

The IRA, signed by U.S. President Joe Biden in August, gives up to $7,500 in tax credits to buyers of EVs assembled only in North America, sparking concerns that Hyundai Motor and Kia will lose ground in the U.S. market as they make EVs at domestic plants for export.

Korea has made an all-out effort to seek measures to ease the concerns, and the two nations agreed last week to launch high-level talks during the meeting between Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.

"The two nations will launch a director-level meeting later this week on the issue," Ahn told reporters in Seoul as he returned home from a weeklong trip to the U.S.

"It is practically not easy to amend the law before the U.S.' mid-term election in November. But we remain open to every possibility and seek various measures to find solutions with the U.S. Congress and its government," he added.

Ahn added that he is expected to meet with Tai again next week on the sidelines of a Group of 20 (G-20) meeting of trade ministers, while vowing to devise ways to work closely with nations in the same position regarding the matter, including the European Union.

Yonhap