Por: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
31/10/2023
As Prepared for Delivery
Thank you for your kind introduction. It’s an honor to follow, you, Vice Chancellor Habeck.
You have been a true visionary in the fight against climate change, as well as your work to address the energy security crisis caused by Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine and weaponize energy.
Your tireless diplomacy has invigorated and inspired world leaders to act.
The United States is grateful to have you as a partner, and I look forward to continuing our work together.
INFLECTION POINT
I’m here today because, as President Biden has clearly articulated, we are at an inflection point.
More so now than any time in recent memory, democracy and the values we hold dear are under sustained attack.
To the east, the Kremlin seeks to squelch democracy. Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has stretched over 20 months now. The war has claimed the lives of thousands of innocent civilians. Millions more have been displaced.
To the south, Hamas aims to demolish the democratic State of Israel and destabilize the region. That destructive impulse inspired its brutal attack three weeks ago. Now Hamas uses civilians in Gaza as a shield as it continues to plot attacks.
And while our democracies face these threats, humanity also faces an existential threat.
The mounting toll of climate change presents a clear and present danger not only to our public health and to our environment, but also to our economies.
With two months still left in the year, the United States has already set a new record for the number of extreme weather events that have cost us at least $1 billion. You have seen the same here in Germany, from flooding in the Ahr Valley and the diminishing water levels of the Rhine to the extreme heat that is becoming an unfortunate hallmark of German summers.
America and Germany are not outliers. Climate change knows no borders. Its destructive nature has begun destabilizing our economies and it is a collective issue for the world, with the poorest countries often hit the hardest.
When President Biden came to office, he was focused on two objectives – strengthening our economy and reinvigorating our alliances – in order to address the challenges we face.
ECONOMIC REVITALIZATION
It is important to remember that less than two years ago, a gathering like this was impossible because a global pandemic threatened our lives and stalled our economies.
The solution to the public health crisis came in the form of an mRNA vaccine first developed by a partnership between an American and German company. An example of the partnership between our private sectors with assistance from our governments.
The economic challenges we faced also required both of our governments to provide support to our businesses and citizens in extraordinary ways.
As part of our economic recovery from the pandemic, President Biden knew that in order for the United States to be a strong partner to our allies, we needed to make investments at home to unlock the potential of the U.S. economy.
Over the course of the first two years of the President’s Administration we passed an infrastructure package, which allowed us to modernize our crumbling infrastructure and increase its resilience; the CHIPS and Science Act, which mobilizes funding into U.S. semiconductor production to build greater supply chain resilience, and the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides us with the tools to make the largest investment in addressing climate change in U.S. history.
Last week the President proposed a $50 billion investment in the American defense industrial base, which will help us meet the needs of our partners in Ukraine but also put us in a better position to meet the collective needs of our NATO allies as well as our other partners across the globe.
I would like to spend the remainder of my remarks talking about how the IRA enhances our collective efforts to address the climate crisis and promote energy security, as well as touching on how our investment in our military industrial base is part of a broader strategy to confront Russia.
INFLATION REDUCTION ACT
As deep as our partnership is, collective action does not happen on its own. It is built upon the shared values of our people, the connections between our business community, and of course intense diplomacy.
I’m especially happy to be here today at Industry 2023 in that vein. The United States has a historic opportunity to work hand-in-hand with the people in this room and across Europe to address climate change, but we must be clear-eyed about both the opportunity we have and the challenges we face.
A misrepresentation I’ve often heard is that the IRA signals a turn toward American protectionism or the start of a subsidy race-to-the-bottom.
I want to be clear: It does neither.
Lea la nota original aquí: Remarks by Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo at the Industry 2023 Conference in Berlin, Germany | U.S. Department of the Treasury
