Rasmussen’s comments come ahead of a crucial meeting of EU leaders next week, where the EU’s deregulation drive will take center stage. Leaders are expected to urge the bloc’s executive to speed up efforts to slash red tape — a push the Danish minister said is vital to keeping Europe globally competitive.
“If our investors are met with the red carpet in the U.S. and by red tape in Europe, they will, at the end of the day, choose the U.S.,” he stressed.
For over a year, Brussels has been torching swaths of environmental red tape in a bid to restore the competitiveness of Europe’s beleaguered industries against their U.S. and Chinese rivals. Brussels now has nine simplification packages in the works, spanning the defense, environmental and digital sectors.
The EU’s rulebooks have drawn the ire of President Donald Trump, who has threatened to hike tariffs over rules he says discriminate against, and even censor, U.S. companies.
France and Germany, the EU’s two largest economies, are pushing Brussels for a similar environmental deregulation drive.
In a bid to keep Washington onside, the European Commission is preparing plans to address Trump’s grievances — while presenting the effort as part of a self-driven policy overhaul. Politically, the move allows the bloc to reconcile its own domestic agenda without appearing to bow to Trump’s pressure.