US threatens to retaliate against EU tech regulation

NEW YORK - The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on Tuesday threatened to take countermeasures against the EU over what it described as the bloc's controversial regulations on service providers.

"If the EU and EU Member States insist on continuing to restrict, limit, and deter the competitiveness of US service providers through discriminatory means, the United States will have no choice but to begin using every tool at its disposal to counter these unreasonable measures," said the USTR in a post on the social platform X.

According to the USTR, potential countermeasures could include assessing fees or imposing restrictions on foreign services. The agency also warned that it could adopt a similar approach toward other countries pursuing what it called an EU-style regulatory strategy in this area.

The USTR alleged that the EU and certain member states have pursued a sustained pattern of discriminatory and harassing lawsuits, taxes, fines, and directives targeting US service providers.

"The United States has raised concerns with the EU for years on these matters without meaningful engagement or basic acknowledgement of US concerns," the USTR added.

The USTR also said EU service providers have operated freely in the United States for decades, benefiting from access to the US market and consumers, while naming several European technology giants with expansive presence in the country.

The latest remarks reflect growing frustration among US officials over the EU's tightening technology regulations and lawsuits targeting US tech giants.

The European Commission has recently opened two antitrust investigations into US tech giants Google and Meta, and fined Elon Musk's platform X 120 million euros (about 140 million US dollars) in its first non-compliance decision under the Digital Services Act.