WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Amid trade frictions between the United States and the European Union, President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed on Friday that the two sides would launch talks on critical minerals used for electric vehicles.

Biden and von der Leyen met at the White House against a backdrop of European complaints that clean energy subsidies in the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and others will divert investment away from Europe and hurt their economies. The war in Ukraine was also a major agenda item.

In a joint statement after their meeting, the two leaders said they intended to “immediately begin negotiations on a targeted critical minerals agreement” to ensure that minerals extracted or processed in the EU would count for clean vehicle tax credits under the IRA law.