Lutnick Challenges EU’s Digital Chokehold on US Tech Giants in High-Stakes Brussels Meeting
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick moved directly into the center of European policymaking on Monday, pressing European leaders to ease what Washington sees as an increasingly punitive regulatory regime targeting U.S. technology companies.
In his first official trip to Brussels since July’s trade deal, Lutnick made the administration’s position clear: Any changes to tariffs on steel and aluminum — an urgent priority for European manufacturers — will depend on reforms to the bloc’s digital regulatory framework and the resolution of multibillion-euro lawsuits against U.S. technology companies.
“Our suggestion is that the European Union and its trade ministers seriously consider analyzing their digital rules and striking a balance,” Lutnick said during a joint appearance with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and European trade chief Maros Sefcovic.
A person familiar with the discussions said Lutnick told European officials that the bloc’s regulatory system was heavily biased against U.S. companies.
A trillion-dollar opening: if Europe changes course
Lutnick argued that reducing the EU’s “regulatory stranglehold” on U.S. companies could unlock massive investment.
“If they remove this regulatory framework and make it more attractive to our companies, they stand to benefit from hundreds of billions, if not a trillion dollars of investment,” Lutnick told Bloomberg Television. He added that such a change “would add a point and a half to European GDP”, according to AFP.
The Commerce Secretary specifically highlighted ongoing antitrust actions against companies such as Google, which face a European sanction of almost 3 billion euros.
“Let’s resolve the outstanding cases,” Lutnick told Bloomberg. “Let’s leave them behind. Let’s develop a reasonable framework within which these companies can grow and grow.”
Washington: EU digital rules target American companies
The Trump administration has long argued that the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, and related antitrust rulings impose obligations structured in ways that massively entrap U.S. businesses.
Greer noted that EU thresholds “often include” criteria met only by U.S. companies, that compliance “can become difficult” and that “fines can be quite high,” Bloomberg reported. He also highlighted what he described as “pretty aggressive” enforcement.
Lutnick directly linked U.S. tariff policy to the regulatory debate: “In exchange for that, we’ll come up with a cool deal on steel and aluminum,” he told Bloomberg Television.
Europe under pressure from its own industry
The problem has become even more acute for European manufacturers since July’s trade deal set a base tariff of 15% on most EU products. The administration has since expanded its fifty percent tariff on metals to include products containing steel and aluminum, not just base materials.
“Many produced machines cannot be delivered to the United States and our companies are suffering from a considerable drop in sales,” German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche told reporters, according to Bloomberg.
EU officials hit back. A European Commission spokesperson said the bloc maintained its “sovereign right to legislate”, AFP reported, while Sefcovic told Bloomberg the rules were “not discriminatory” and “not targeted at US companies”.
Shared concerns, but a non-negotiable American priority
The meeting also addressed broader strategic issues, including Chinese steel overcapacity and vulnerabilities in rare earth and chip supply chains.
“We not only discussed bilateral issues, but also some of the challenges we face together: overcapacity… China’s role in the global economy and other issues where we need to join forces,” said Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, according to AFP.
But Lutnick’s main message remained unchanged: a stronger transatlantic partnership requires a fair regulatory environment for American technology companies.
For European governments facing sluggish growth and growing frustration from their industrial sectors, the choice is now stark: maintain the current regulatory path or pursue the investment and economic expansion that Washington says could come from a reset.
