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(Bloomberg) — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his government plans to keep energy prices frozen next year and criticized European Union plans to limit carbon emissions as economically harmful. 

Tusk said he instructed his finance minister to prepare a plan to curb energy prices for consumers, and that the cap may also extend to manufacturers.

“The change in the United States could also mean – at least initially – that the American economy will become even more competitive, mainly due to the price of energy,” Tusk said at a press conference in Warsaw on Saturday. 

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President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on plans to reverse a Biden-era pause on issuing new licenses to export liquefied natural gas, roll back auto emissions standards, and accelerate the construction of new power plants. 

A move to freeze energy prices may also raise the chances Poland’s central bank accelerates interest rate cuts, which some policymakers have signaled are unlikely before March. The central bank has repeatedly pointed to uncertainty over energy as the key reason not to ease. 

“We want to have cheap energy, we want to compete with the rest of the world, we want to have a truly competitive economy,” said Tusk, stressing the relevance of boosting the energy sector in a manner that would help it compete with the US.  

“I have also asked the finance minister to urgently present a method of freezing energy prices for next year as well,” the premier said. “I will not allow Poland to come out badly in this game due to energy prices.” 

—With assistance from Piotr Skolimowski.

(Updates with details throughout.)

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