Air Liquide could pursue just two out of six US hydrogen hubs after Trump halts funding

France’s Air Liquide said on Friday that only two out of their six previously awarded hydrogen projects for the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) might move forward after President Donald Trump froze funding on clean energy projects.

Air Liquide was chosen in 2023 as a partner for six clean hydrogen hubs planned by the DoE, which was to allocate $7 billion for them under the bipartisan infrastructure law signed by former President Joe Biden.

However, Trump has placed holds on tens of billions of dollars in congressionally-approved spending, including those from the bipartisan law and Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

A beneficiary of the IRA, Air Liquide has been investing big in the U.S. clean energy transition, including a partnership with Exxon Mobile to enhance the production of low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia at the oil major’s facility in Baytown, Texas.

Jackow said that while the project with Exxon was not “absolutely decided yet”, both parties continued to work on it, with final decision expected in the second half of 2025.

He also noted that Air Liquide’s U.S. business was not limited to hydrogen. Last year it announced investments related to industrial gas supplies to chipmaker Micron Technology and to LG Chem’s U.S. electric vehicle battery plant.