SEOUL (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden has expressed willingness to hold talks with South Korea on a recent measure that denies subsidies to automakers which do not assemble electric vehicles (EVs) in North America, the Yonhap news agency said on Wednesday.
The assurance came in a letter from Biden to South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, it added.
The Inflation Reduction Act Biden signed into law in August requires EVs assembled in North America to qualify for tax credits in the United States, but excluded Hyundai Motor Co and its affiliate Kia Corp from EV subsidies, as they do not yet make the vehicles there.
In September, Yoon asked Biden for help to allay Seoul’s concerns that the new U.S. rules would hurt South Korea’s automakers.
(Reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Clarence Fernandez)
