The EU’s response to attacks on its laws has so far been limited, with tech chief Henna Virkkunen saying Zuckerberg’s comments on EU censorship were misleading.
Gozi said Jordan’s letter was “aggressive, and they are wrong” — but just “because they are aggressive, doesn’t mean we need to be aggressive too.”
“We need to be firm,” he said.“We told them to pay attention that these guys are the ones who a few years ago were saying how wonderful the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act were.”
Spanish center-right lawmaker Pablo Arias Echeverría said U.S. officials they met with weren’t fully familiar with the EU regulations.
“They stayed on the surface and did not go into detail,” he said. “Their message, always the same, was about the DSA being against free speech. About the DMA that is designed against American business. And about the AI Act slowing down innovation.”
The EU politicians also met with the White House’s AI and crypto czar David Sacks; Lynne Parker, who is the principal deputy director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy; and officials from the U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission.
Arias Echeverría warned about how souring of U.S. and EU ties risks a wider shift in Europe that could benefit other global rivals, such as China.
“We have conveyed … that if there is a rise in prices due to tariffs, that there may be a perception of a change of direction,” he said. “It is not a very big wave, but it can permeate society if there is a trade war.”
