The EU’s “attack on our tech companies, that’s going to be on the table,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC on Tuesday, asked whether Sunday’s deal warranted further trade talks with the EU.
This underscores how the U.S. doesn’t seem intent on backing down from its months-long campaign against the EU’s rules on content moderation, digital competition and artificial intelligence — despite the bloc’s insistence that its regulations are not up for negotiation as part of the trade talks.
Even worse, lawmakers fear that the EU’s executive has already given up some ground or that the U.S. will feel empowered by Sunday’s deal to continue its criticisms.
No concessions given
The Commission was quick to point out that tech regulation was one of the areas where it had not given an inch, by excluding rulebooks like the Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA) from the negotiating table.
“There is absolutely no commitment on digital regulation, nor on digital taxes,” said a senior EU official on Monday. They added that the Commission’s defense of the EU’s autonomy to regulate hadn’t received enough attention.
It seemed like a win for the EU. Meanwhile, the U.S. busied itself wringing concessions on digital trade barriers from other countries in trade talks, such as Indonesia.