SAN FRANCISCO — The European Union’s top antitrust enforcer told POLITICO on Wednesday that she isn’t concerned about antagonizing the Trump administration by meeting with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, one of the president’s most vocal critics.
“In democracy, we listen, meet, discuss with people that are close to our political sentiments and our political families, and with people that may be much more far away,” Teresa Ribera, a socialist, said in an interview during a trip to California.
She also doubled down on red lines the EU won’t cross around tying trade negotiations with the U.S to the bloc’s tech rules.
The Trump administration has repeatedly threatened to levy tariffs on the EU unless it eases up on enforcement of its landmark digital platform and competition laws against major U.S. tech companies.
“Could you allow anyone to tell you when you need to cook or to watch TV or to turn on the washing machine at your house?” Ribera said. “We are sovereign, and I think that it’s a matter of respect.”
Ribera, who previously equated the administration’s strong arm tactics to “blackmail,” said that while she would be open to clarifying the EU’s position, she would not “accept anyone else telling the European regulators how they need to work on their own regulation.”
The European Parliament is set to vote on whether to advance a transatlantic trade deal Thursday, and U.S. Ambassador to the EU Andrew Puzder has warned a rejection would be “economic malpractice.” Puzder also told POLITICO this week that the U.S. wants more concrete engagement with Brussels on breaking down tech regulations — in particular the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act — that Washington sees as barriers to trade.
In addition to Newsom, Ribera’s visit featured her first face-to-face meetings with CEOs of Silicon Valley’s largest companies, many of which are in her crosshairs for allegedly violating EU anti-monopoly laws. Her comments Wednesday come ahead of a stop in D.C., where her relationship with U.S. counterparts is in flux following the ouster of Justice Department antitrust chief Gail Slater.
The commissioner said she was sorry to see Slater leave the administration, describing her as professional and “very committed.” She emphasized that cooperation with the U.S. on antitrust matters remains a priority and will be meeting Slater’s former team at the DOJ later in the week. She also is scheduled to meet Omeed Assefi, who replaced Slater as acting assistant attorney general of the DOJ antitrust division.
Asked if she still had someone to call to discuss pressing issues like reviews of proposed mergers of transatlantic corporations, Ribera responded that she would know more on Friday after the meeting.
But the meeting with Newsom, Ribera said, left her with the impression that there are opportunities to collaborate with California, particularly on climate issues and tech policy.
On the push to transition toward renewable energy and “digital challenges,” Ribera said she found common ground with Newsom on the need to cooperate “with other countries and institutions, but also with private players.” She said the governor was on the same page as the EU “in terms of respect of the law and sustainability, versus what I could call predatory behaviors that could kill the opportunity to keep on building wealth.”
She said the time wasn’t right to enter into a clean energy agreement with California like the one the EU signed earlier this year with the United Kingdom, but that the commission had a close working relationship with California’s government “on different technical aspects, but also different political cooperation streams of work.”
A formal agreement between California and the EU isn’t a prerequisite for progress, Ribera emphasized. “If we work to develop common standards that could facilitate the involvement of companies that are present here and there,” she said, “that could accelerate the transformation” from fossil fuels to sustainable energy.
Newsom’s office affirmed the state’s commitment to climate action with the EU earlier this week, highlighting the agreement by a coalition of states, which he co-chairs, to meeting Paris Agreement climate targets after the Trump administration withdrew from the pact.
Ribera offered fewer specifics when asked about her stance on tech policy in California, including a state bill emulating some EU-style tech protections on alleged search and app store monopolies. That measure from state Sen. Scott Wiener is co-sponsored by startup accelerator Y Combinator, whose CEO Garry Tan Ribera met with this week.
“It is not my role to comment on the different competence of the states and the federal government,” Ribera said. But she added: “In many occasions, these regulations reflect the expectations, the needs of a given society, and if they don’t find the right place at the federal government, they may find the right place at the state level, and that is probably what we may be witnessing.”
