THE United States yesterday demanded that the European Union make its regulation of the tech sector more “balanced” in exchange for a reduction of US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from the bloc.
At a meeting in Brussels, EU ministers urged US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to implement their July trade deal, with cuts to US tariffs on EU steel and their removal from EU goods such as wine and spirits.
But Lutnick said the 27-nation EU first needed to rethink its digital sector rules to make them more balanced.
“Once they set a framework that we are comfortable with and we understand it, resolve these outstanding cases that are old, then I think we can go and attack the steel and aluminium,” Lutnick told reporters after the 90-minute meeting.
Lutnick did not specify what changes the United States was seeking, but did say that balanced rules could draw a trillion dollars of investment to the EU.
The Trump administration has consistently criticised EU rules that curb the power of tech giants and requires large online platforms to tackle harmful content, saying they unfairly target US tech companies.
The European Commission has repeatedly said it is the sovereign right of the EU to regulate and pointed to actions against non-US firms.
European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said EU tech rules were not discriminatory.
“They are not aimed at US companies, but we know that this is one of the issues the U.S. wants to discuss. We are prepared to respond to the question as the US is prepared to respond to our inquiries,” he said.
&uuid=(email))