“There is increasing competition to attract investment and to control the most critical links of key supply chains,” the European Commission President said in French during an address to Canada’s Parliament on Tuesday night. She called Canada “a natural partner” for Europe, citing its mineral deposits and shared values on environmental and labour rights. (The Logic)

Talking point: In an address focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, von der Leyen’s economic interlude centred on energy cooperation and the brewing cleantech competition. She cited Canada’s expansion of natural-gas exports when Europe faced a fuel shortage as an example; domestic business groups as well as German and Japanese leaders have called for even more, although von der Leyen talked up hydrogen during her visit instead. Policymakers in both Canada and the EU are crafting responses to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), US$369 billion in cleantech and energy incentives which firms and their industry associations are warning could tempt them to move. Visiting Ottawa in December, EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis warned that the IRA poses “a real risk of a global subsidies race” that could “slow our green transformations.”