EU claims ‘sovereign right’ to regulate tech after Trump threat
The European Commission asserted the “sovereign right” to regulate the activities of tech giants within the bloc and rejected claims by President Donald Trump that its rules unfairly harm US firms.
Brussels has adopted a powerful legal arsenal aimed at reining in tech giants, particularly through the Digital Markets Act (DMA) covering competition and Digital Services Act (DSA) on content moderation.
Without explicitly naming the EU, yesterday Mr Trump threatened to impose fresh tariffs on countries with regulations that sought to “harm” American technology, just days after both sides released details of a hard-fought transatlantic trade deal.
“It is the sovereign right of the EU and its member states to regulate economic activities on our territory,” European Commission chief spokesperson Paula Pinho told reporters in response.
The EU has already slapped heavy fines on US behemoths, including Meta and Apple, under its new digital rules, which have faced months of pushback from Mr Trump’s administration.
EU tech spokesman Thomas Regnier said the bloc could “firmly rebut” the idea pushed by Mr Trump that its rules targeted US companies.
“The DSA does not look at the colour of a company, at the jurisdiction of a company,” Mr Regnier said – noting that the last three enforcement decisions under the law had been against China’s AliExpress and TikTok, and Chinese-founded Temu.
Aimed at protecting consumers from disinformation and hate speech as well as counterfeit or dangerous goods, the DSA obliges platforms to swiftly remove illegal content or make it inaccessible.
Among its provisions, the law instructs platforms to suspend users who frequently share illegal content such as hate speech – something framed as “censorship” by detractors from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to the US State Department.
“The claims that the DSA is a censorship tool are completely wrong and completely unfounded,” Mr Regnier said.
“We’re not asking platforms to remove content. We’re asking them to enforce their own terms and conditions.”
‘Speculative’
Mr Trump’s latest threat comes after the United States and the EU finally released details of the trade deal struck between the US leader and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in July to end a months-long transatlantic standoff.
A joint statement issued last Thursday confirmed that the deal imposes a 15% US levy on most EU exports, including cars, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and lumber, but negotiations are not over, and some moving parts remain.
The bloc’s trade chief Maroš Šefčovič insisted last week that Brussels successfully kept digital issues “out of the trade negotiations” with Washington – and that the bloc’s “regulatory autonomy” was not up for debate.
The commission’s Ms Pinho stood by those comments, saying Mr Trump’s latest threat would not derail work on implementing the agreement.
“We have a clear framework on which we are working,” she said, adding: “any other measures which fall out of the scope of this framework agreement at this stage are merely speculative.”
Meanwhile, the Tánaiste Simon Harris spoke with US trade representative Jamieson Greer this afternoon.
Mr Harris said they discussed tariffs, pharmaceuticals, medtech and spirits, as well as the all-island economy during their call.
In a post on X, he added that Ireland will continue to make a case for fair and balanced trade that supports Irish businesses and strengthens EU-US ties.
Article Source – EU claims ‘sovereign right’ to regulate tech after Trump threat