The French president has received from Germany on his stance towards the US’s Inflation Reduction Act, as Emmanuel Macron called the act’s subsidies harmful to French companies and others in Europe.

The European Union has expressed concern that tax credits in the climate law, including those aimed at encouraging Americans to buy electric vehicles, would discriminate against European producers and break World Trade Organisation rules.

Germany’s economy minister Robert Habeck reiterated on Wednesday that he believes parts of the law aren’t compatible with the WTO.

“I believe that this view is largely shared by those countries that are committed to a multilateral trading order,” he told reporters in Berlin.

“The Americans know that we see it that way and the European Commission will have told them this too.”

Mr Macron had planned to make his case to US officials against the subsidies, underscoring that it’s crucial for “Europe, like the US, to come out stronger... not weaker” as the world emerges from the tumult of the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a senior French government official.

Biden administration officials have countered that the legislation goes a long way in helping the US to meet global goals to curb climate change. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre yesterday made the case that the legislation will also provide new opportunities for French companies and others in Europe.

President Joe Biden is set to honour Emmanuel Macron with the first state dinner of his presidency tonight.

First, the two leaders will sit down in the Oval Office for morning talks that officials from both sides said were expected to largely centre on the leaders’ efforts to stay united in their response to Russia’s war in Ukraine and to coordinate their approach to an increasingly assertive China.

But ahead of today’s meeting, Mr Macron made clear that he and other European leaders remain deeply concerned about the incentives in a sweeping new climate-related law that favour American-made climate technology, including electric vehicles.

Read the details in this report:

Presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron are celebrating the longstanding US-French relationship – but these are friends with differences. The French president is using his visit to Washington to sharply criticise aspects of the US president’s signature climate law as a bad deal for Europe.

French president made clear that he and other European leaders remain deeply concerned about the incentives in a sweeping new climate-related law that favour American-made climate technology, including electric vehicles.

Mr Macron yesterday criticised the legislation, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, during a luncheon with US lawmakers and again during a speech at the French embassy. The French president said that while the Biden administration’s efforts to curb climate change should be applauded, the subsidies will be an enormous setback for European companies.

“The choices that have been made ... are choices that will fragment the West,” Mr Macron said at the French embassy.

He added that the legislation “creates such differences between the United States of America and Europe that all those who work in many companies (in the US), they will just think, ‘We don’t make investments any more on the other side of the Atlantic.’”

Grammy award-winning New Orleans native Jon Batiste will provide music during the state dinner for French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte at the White House.

Joining Batiste will be his father, Michael Batiste, the US Marine Band and the Army and Air Force Strolling Strings.

The event was produced with help from Fete, an event planning company based in New York City.Jill Biden recalled that when she flew to Japan to support Team USA in the Olympics, she ended up cheering alongside Macron during a three-on-three basketball game.

Although they were rooting for opposing teams, “there was a camaraderie that we shared,” she said.With the state dinner, she said “our hope is that the end result will be a night that balances the beauty of our friendship with a seriousness of purpose, and we hope that French citizens everywhere feel the warmth of our welcome.”

Last night the Bidens and Macrons dined at Fiola Mare, an Italian seafood restaurant on the Georgetown waterfront. They spent about two hours at the restaurant before heading their separate ways.

Thursday’s state dinner, the first in three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will not be a new experience for Macron. The French president was invited to the US on a state visit by then-president Donald Trump in 2018.

Mr Trump and his wife Melania took Mr Macron and his wife on a helicopter ride over Washington – a city designed by Frenchman Pierre L’Enfant – and the Potomac River to Mount Vernon, the estate of George Washington, America’s first president. Macron was also treated to a state dinner.

American Osetra caviar, butter-poached lobster from Maine, beef, and California wines will be presented before Emmanuel Macron for a state dinner hosted by president Joe Biden for his French counterpart.

The Biden family and the Macrons will be part of a red, white and blue-themed gathering at a pavilion set up on the South Lawn of the White House for the first state visit hosted by the American president since he was elected to the office in 2021.

The menu, released in advance of the dinner to be served to 300-400 guests on Thursday, showed the gathering will dine on shallot marmalade, a selection of cheese from three different states, potatoes and beef, and wash it down with wines from California.

My colleague Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports:

Everything from the menu to the entertainment to the table settings and other touches for the glitzy dinner were designed by the White House — and first lady Jill Biden — to highlight the ties that bind America and its oldest ally, France.

A state dinner is a high diplomatic honor that the United States reserves for its closest allies.

“The design of this dinner was inspired by the shared colors of our flags, red white and blue, and our common values, liberty and democracy, equality and fellowship,” Ms Biden said. “These form the bedrock upon which our enduring friendship was built.”

The first lady said she was handling the dinner the way that her mother handled family dinners when she was growing up. Her mother brought out the china, fresh flowers and lit candles “even if we were only having fish sticks from the freezer.”

“I learned that setting a table can be an act of love,” she said, before journalists were permitted to see the tablescapes for the dinner, which is part of a broader state visit to the United States by Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte.

White House social secretary Carlos Elizondo, who has worked for the Bidens for more than a decade, said “making people feel comfortable and at home” matters most to the couple.

Maine lobster poached in butter, beef with shallot marmalade and an American cheese trio will be served when French president Emmanuel Macron takes his seat as the guest of honor at a red-white-and-blue themed White House state dinner, the first for president Joe Biden.

Dessert will be orange chiffon cake, roasted pears and creme fraiche ice cream.

Everything from the menu to the entertainment to the table settings and other touches were designed by the White House — and first lady Jill Biden — to highlight the ties that bind America and its oldest ally, France.

The dinner will be held in a heated pavilion on the South Lawn with a guest list that is expected to top 300. Guests will dine at a mix of square and rectangular tables, covered with dark blue silk cloths and decorated with candles and arrangements of red, white and blue flowers, including roses and irises.