Debunking False Claims That EU Anti-Monopoly and Online Safety Policies Discriminate Against U.S. Firms
The Trump administration is escalating trade and tariff threats against policies that other countries have enacted to counter the largest digital platforms’ monopolistic abuses, regulate against artificial intelligence (AI) threats, and hold the mega platforms accountable for harmful online content and deceptive platform design. The European Union, which has enacted policies to counter such abuses that other nations have replicated, has been a special target. Some officials have even offered to trade away U.S. manufacturing goals ostensibly motivating Trump’s tariffs. For instance, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explicitly offered to cut U.S. tariffs on EU steel and aluminum imports if the EU would walk back tech regulation.1
The Big Tech lobby has organized a campaign of congressional hearings and letters, executive branch threats, and endless reports and op-eds against the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA). They claim the laws are discriminatory and designed to undermine U.S. firms.2 The Trump administration has made attacking the DMA and DSA on behalf of Big Tech a priority, listing both as trade barriers in its National Trade Estimate reports.3
The reality is that both laws apply to all firms from any country operating in the EU. And, there have been bipartisan bills proposed in the U.S. Congress that include key elements of these laws. The DMA, aimed at countering monopolistic abuses, unsurprisingly applies to the largest, most dominant firms. Large U.S. digital platforms are regulated because they are dominant, not because they are American. The DSA applies to firms of all sizes, with legal requirements proportional to firm size.
U.S. Big Tech firms do not want accountability in the EU or the example the laws set elsewhere, including in the United States. They are leveraging Big Tech CEOs’ 2025 inauguration and ballroom donations; White House dinners; and the vast network of lobbyists, think tanks, trade associations, front groups, and academics they fund to make helping Big Tech a top White House priority.
The increasing concentration of power among the largest Big Tech firms harms other businesses, consumers, and democracy in the United States and around the world. This memo rebuts claims of discrimination by explaining how the DMA and DSA operate—including their rules and thresholds and the firms they cover—and outlining the enforcement mechanisms under both laws and how they have been applied to date.