U.S. renews pressure on EU: “Ease Big Tech rules to lower steel tariffs”

[Financial News] The Trump administration has reiterated to the European Union (EU) that it can lower tariffs on European steel only if the EU eases regulations on U.S. Big Tech companies. It has made regulations on domestic companies such as Google and Apple a condition of trade negotiations. Analysts say tensions between the U.S. and the EU, which had ebbed after last year’s trade deal, could flare up again.
On the 22nd (local time), the U.S. political news outlet Politico reported that the European Commission told member states at a closed-door meeting last week that the U.S. was demanding a relaxation of enforcement of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) as a condition for lowering tariffs on some European products, including steel.
The DMA regulates large platform companies such as Google, Apple and Meta to prevent them from abusing their market dominance to exclude competitors or impose unfavorable terms on users. The U.S. maintains that the law is being applied in a way that disadvantages its companies.
The U.S. and the EU agreed last July in Turnberry, Scotland, to apply in principle a 15% ceiling to tariffs the U.S. imposes on EU products. However, tariffs of up to 50% still apply to steel and aluminum, fueling continued EU dissatisfaction.
The European Commission plans to assess by the end of this year whether the U.S. has fulfilled its commitments on steel tariffs. If it concludes that the U.S. has failed to keep its promises, it can withdraw duty-free treatment granted to U.S. manufactured goods. However, member states are reportedly cautious about taking actual retaliatory measures, concerned that trade tensions could escalate again.
This is not the first time the U.S. has linked steel tariffs to digital regulations. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also proposed during a visit to Brussels last November that the issue of steel and aluminum tariffs could be resolved if the EU eased its digital regulations.
In response, European Commissioner Teresa Ribera, who oversees EU competition policy, criticized the U.S. demand as “blackmail” and said digital regulations were not a subject for trade negotiations.
Since April last year, the EU has fined Apple, Meta and Google a total of 1.59 billion euros (approximately 2.4 trillion won) for violating the DMA. The U.S. has argued that these penalties unfairly target its technology companies.
U.S. Ambassador to the EU Andrew Puzder also criticized the EU’s digital regulations in a recent interview with the Financial Times (FT), questioning whether they were intended to promote market competition or to extract profits from U.S. companies to benefit Europe.
As the U.S. sticks to its position linking tariff cuts to eased regulations on Big Tech, the two sides’ negotiations could once again run into difficulties.
[email protected] Kim Kyung-min Reporter