U.S. warns of retaliation against EU over Big Tech regulation: “Fatal for European companies”

[Financial News] The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, which narrowly settled a trade dispute with the European Union (EU) last July, has raised the prospect of new trade retaliation against the EU. The U.S. side warned that it would immediately retaliate against European companies in the United States if the EU discriminated against U.S. companies such as SpaceX.
Andrew Puzder, the U.S. ambassador to the EU, made the remarks in an interview with the UK's Financial Times (FT) on the 18th (local time). He hinted at possible retaliation while criticizing a plan proposed by the European Commission last May to give priority access to satellite internet frequencies. Asked whether European companies should worry about U.S. retaliation, Puzder said, “Given the size of the U.S. market, they should be wary that such a thing could happen and, if it does, could be very damaging to those companies.”
Since the start of Trump’s second term, EU authorities have pursued a policy of “strengthening digital sovereignty” in response to the dominance of U.S. digital giants in the industry. In an announcement on May 27, the European Commission proposed allocating at least two-thirds of the rights to use frequencies in the 2-gigahertz (GHz) band to EU operators when the rights are newly assigned in the future. The rights are currently held by U.S. telecommunications companies Viasat and EchoStar, but expire next May. If the proposal is implemented, it would limit the frequencies available to U.S. and Chinese satellite communications companies, including SpaceX, which operates the Starlink satellite communications service. The European Commission’s proposal must be approved by the European Parliament and EU member states.
The European Commission also proposed the Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA) on June 3, aimed at protecting sensitive information in cloud services and expanding Europe’s cloud infrastructure.
On CADA, Puzder argued that while Europe has the right to protect sensitive government information, it should not use such regulations to discriminate against U.S. companies. “If the purpose is to undermine U.S. competitiveness, I don’t think that is a legitimate objective for such legislation,” he said, stressing that weakening the competitiveness of U.S. companies would not make European companies more competitive.
That day, Puzder also mentioned the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which took effect in 2022. The law was enacted to prevent market monopolies and unfair practices by digital giants, and imposes various prohibitions and obligations on designated large companies. Several U.S. and Chinese Big Tech companies, including Amazon, Apple and ByteDance, are currently designated as subject to regulation.
Puzder pointed to the EU authorities’ imposition of several billion euros in fines on U.S. technology companies, saying he questioned whether the EU was “trying to address competition problems in the digital market or to raise revenue from U.S. companies for Europe’s benefit.” He added that instead of focusing on curbing the market power of U.S. companies, the EU should join forces to counter China in the race to develop AI. He said the United States and the EU are competing with China in AI and quantum computing, and argued that the EU “should move away from a regulatory mindset focused on blocking things.”
[email protected] Jong-won Park Reporter