Since the beginning of the year, the White House has continued to criticize European regulations on digital services and the investigations and fines applied by the European Commission against the abuses of American digital giants.
The last example to date was the fine of 120 million euros imposed in early December by the EU on the social network X, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, an ally of American President Donald Trump.
The Commission accused the social network of not complying with the European regulation on digital services (DSA), a decision seen as “an attack on all American technological platforms and the American people”, criticized the head of American diplomacy Marco Rubio.
This law came into force two years ago to combat illegal and dangerous content online, and imposes reinforced obligations on the largest platforms active in the EU.
In recent years, the EU has imposed several billion-euro fines on large American groups in the digital sector for not respecting European legislation.
But the “European service companies have had the ability to operate freely in the United States for decades, taking advantage of access to our market and consumers”recalled (USTR) in his message, citing in particular Accenture, CapGemini, Publicis and also the French unicorn, artificial intelligence (AI) group Mistral.
“If retaliatory measures are necessary, U.S. law allows for the application of entry rights or restrictions on foreign services, among other possibilities”he threatened.
Washington has repeatedly called on the EU to relax its guidelines regarding the digital sector, notably considering a possible reduction in tariffs on European steel and aluminum.
The White House Trade Representative also warned “other countries that are considering a strategy similar to the EU on this matter” with an “identical response” from the United States.