STEVE FORBES: Europe’s attacks on US tech firms must stop. We have just the way to do it
As President Donald Trump grapples with our trade relationships around the world, one longstanding issue has emerged: Europe’s unfair, anticompetitive trade policies governing tech and telecom. America’s innovators and job creators have been treated unfairly for far too long.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer recently announced two new Section 301 investigations related to forced labor and manufacturing. Rumblings in Washington, alongside warnings from senior administration officials, indicate that the Trump administration might soon launch a Section 301 investigation into Europe’s discriminatory digital policies. Such a probe is long overdue and should be welcomed.
But a fair, balanced and transparent digital partnership with our European friends is not a given. Here’s why. Over the next several weeks, Europe will undoubtedly attempt to forestall any potential investigation by pulling the United States into an endless, futile negotiation in which they promise to fix every problem, but in reality simply run out the clock on addressing the issues.
The administration would be wise to avoid getting dragged into such a pointless endeavor that will tie it up in years of bureaucracy and result in an imaginary, never-concluded deal.
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We’ve seen this movie before. During the Obama years, the United States entered negotiations with Europe for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The process ran for three long years without ever producing a final agreement, absorbing time and attention but doing little to address imbalances or alter the underlying trajectory of the trade relationship.
The stakes are far too high for a repeat feature. The most consequential distortion in the transatlantic relationship is unfolding in the regulatory treatment of digital services and platforms. Here, the terms of competition are increasingly being set by a European agenda that is unmistakably protectionist. This unfair arrangement cannot continue, and it’s high time we got to the bottom of it.
Europe has spent years building a digital regulatory regime that places unique burdens on American technology companies. What it presents as neutral governance to promote so-called European "digital sovereignty" has, in practice, concentrated restrictions on a small group of U.S.-based platforms while leaving domestic competitors largely untouched. And as digital innovation becomes more central to economic and national security, that targeted enforcement has only intensified in scope and scale.
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Europe has already directed roughly $5 billion in data-privacy penalties at American companies, often in the name of "fair competition" or "consumer protection." At the same, it forces firms like Apple, Google, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft to delay product launches, strip out features, or offer watered-down versions of their services under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Digital Services Act (DSA) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Comparable scrutiny of non-U.S. competitors has been far less evident.
More recently, that posture has turned even more aggressive. European authorities raided the Paris offices of X in February, following months of investigations and a €120 million fine imposed without any detailed basis for the charge until a U.S. House Committee subpoenaed the decision.
Now European officials are rewriting their proposed Digital Networks Act (DNA) to insert new "network usage fees" that would fall almost entirely on U.S. firms. This, despite a prior commitment in a recent joint U.S.-EU trade framework to avoid such fees. Slipping them into the DNA framework amounts to a deliberate breach of that agreement.
This is not exactly the record of a neutral regulator or a reliable trade ally. Nor is there much indication that Europe intends to ease its push to reshape the digital marketplace through protectionist policies that deliberately single out the United States.
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A Section 301 investigation is needed into these practices, to address discriminatory digital regulation. It would allow the United States to formally assess European practices and provide it with important leverage should the United States wish to enter negotiations after completing the process.
In the meantime, Europe should abandon its campaign and support a fair playing field. Although European nations complain about a lack of "digital sovereignty" and U.S. dominance, the truth is American firms are, in fact, dependent on European energy systems and connectivity for their data center infrastructure. The wiser play for Europe would be to continue maximizing excellence in these areas, complementing the strengths of the United States through fair competition.
There may be a time and place for further negotiations. But for now, the United States must establish the magnitude of the problem, which can only come through a 301 investigation. Europe cannot be allowed to stall while expanding its regulatory reach, and exporting its discriminatory model to other countries, including right here in the Western Hemisphere.
President Trump and his trade team must not enter into what would be an ill-fated, fruitless discussion with the Europeans. Bluntly put, entering into talks now would be a trap. A Section 301 investigation into European digital protectionism is a necessity.