In a further step in the tug-of-war between the Trump administration and European rules, the US President signed a memorandum on Friday 21 February to “defend American businesses and innovators against foreign extortion” and “prevent the unfair exploitation of American innovation”.
The memorandum mentions by name the two major European digital regulations, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA), and threatens the use of these regulations against US companies with possible “tariff retaliation”.
The US administration plans to “investigate” any additional countries that use “digital services taxes (DSTs) to discriminate against US companies” and intends to “fight fines, practices and policies that foreign governments impose on US companies”.
The United States also intends to decide whether “any act, policy, or practice of the European Union or the United Kingdom causes US companies to develop or use products and technologies in a manner that infringes freedom of expression or promotes censorship”.
These statements come at a time when the US administration is not sparing in its criticism of the EU and its regulations, particularly with regard to new technologies and the regulation of major online platforms (see EUROPE 13556/7).
At the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris on 11 February, Vice President J.D. Vance warned the EU against any regulation deemed “excessive” towards US technology giants (see EUROPE 13577/12). (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)