Trump administration threatens EU over Google fine and strict digital laws
US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has intensified the Trump administration’s longstanding criticism of the EU’s digital regulatory framework, targeting in particular the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA). In an interview with Bloomberg during a visit to Brussels for meetings with EU trade ministers, Lutnick argued that the current threshold-based approach to designating “very large” platforms and gatekeepers disproportionately affects US tech companies. According to him, rules that in practice capture mainly American firms “can’t be the rules” and should be withdrawn or substantially revised.
Lutnick explicitly linked changes to EU digital regulation to wider trade concessions, indicating that a more permissive EU stance on platform and competition rules could unlock a “cool steel and aluminium deal.” He suggested that easing enforcement of the DSA and DMA, and generally “taking the foot off” the regulatory framework, would create a more attractive environment for US tech companies. In return, he claimed, US firms could be prepared to invest “hundreds of millions of euros” in data centers across the bloc. He went further, predicting that a more investment‑oriented model could generate “hundreds of billions, possibly a trillion euros of investment a year” in the EU, although without specifying timelines or sectors.
The Commission’s official readout of Lutnick’s joint meeting with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and EU Tech Commissioner Henna Virkkunen paints a different picture. The EU side emphasized the “importance” of enforcing the DSA and DMA, signaling continued commitment to systemic platform regulation despite US pressure. Virkkunen also presented the EU’s simplification agenda, highlighting the recently proposed Digital Omnibus package, which foresees targeted cuts to certain privacy obligations and a temporary standstill on new rules for high‑risk AI systems. These initiatives aim to streamline regulatory burdens without abandoning core digital policy goals.
Lutnick, for his part, used his Brussels meetings to deliver a clear binary message to EU ministers: adapt the regulatory model to be more welcoming to large US tech players, or risk missing out on substantial inward investment. Framing his approach as a mix of “carrot and stick,” he implicitly revived broader transatlantic frictions over digital policy, which have previously surfaced in disputes such as US reactions to EU antitrust fines against major platforms. For EU digital law practitioners, the episode underlines that enforcement of the DSA, DMA and related instruments will remain deeply intertwined with trade policy, industrial strategy and geopolitical bargaining.
