The US warns the EU against technical sanctions against the United States

The US has warned the EU not to pursue “security” technology that only targets American companies, prior to President Joe Biden’s first visit to Brussels.

The National Security Council, a hand of the White House, wrote last week complaining about the tone of recent comments on EU law, as negotiations are about to begin in Europe.

“We are deeply concerned about the recent move by European Parliamentary Digital Markets Act spokesman Andreas Schwab, who said the DMA should only target five US companies,” said an email, which the Financial Times wrote on June 9..

It added: “Comments and approaches like this make the US-Europe alliance even more difficult and send a message that [European] The Commission has no interest in engaging with the United States in faith in order to address the same common problems in a mutually beneficial manner. ”

“Security measures can disrupt the citizens of Europe and restore new technologies in the economy. “Such policies also prevent us from working together to comply with our policies,” he said.

The letter was sent by the NSC to staff at EU envoys at the US capital, according to a number of people familiar with this, as part of a joint venture between Washington and Brussels.

Let’s look first at the big problems, at the big problems

It comes at a time when the US and the EU are keen to rebuild a relationship that was shattered by foreign powers during Donald Trump’s tenure. Biden on Tuesday traveled to the EU-US summit in Brussels to discuss trade, technology and China.

Also on Tuesday, the US and the EU settled the 17-year-old dispute on airline services, raising the risk of billions of dollars in payroll costs

At the Brussels summit, both sides committed to forming a “Trade and Technology Council”. This will support standards in new technologies, such as AI, to discuss technical expertise and to discuss technical and competitive ideas.

“We think there are a lot of places to work together with Europe in different ways [of] digital news, data and technology, and we look forward to a good discussion. We also consider it important to ensure that any digital, data or technical laws are treated fairly and ethically by individuals and companies, “an NSC spokesman told FT.

Last month Schwab, Germany’s right-wing MEP and longtime critic of Google, said in an interview with FT that the five largest US companies – Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft – were “serious problems”On EU competitive principles.

“Let’s look first at the big problems, the big problems. Let’s go to the line – one, two, three, four, five – and maybe six [China’s] Alibaba, ”he said. “But let’s start with the number seven plus the European guard just to please Biden.”

The Digital Markets Act is part of a law that aims to curb the power of Big Tech and is the first to change EU technology laws in two decades.

The White House is being pressured by other members of Congress to take a firm stand against EU views. A letter signed by the chairman of a US-based trading company last week warned Biden that EU rules would expire “serious injury American technology companies “.

An NSC official said the transcripts and emails of the FT were selected and did not show any connections, pointing to what many people agree and believe that Washington and Brussels should work together digitally.

The NSC chief added that along with the staff’s email, it sent questions about the skills to understand the policy.

The NSC’s letter follows an earlier agreement this month with G7 countries, led by the US, to change tax laws around the world establishing lower taxes and taxing big companies in countries where sales occur.

The European Commission declined to comment.

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