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 commercialized relationships astir the world, 1 longstanding contented has emerged: Europe’s unfair, anticompetitive commercialized policies governing tech and telecom. America’s innovators and occupation creators person been treated unfairly for acold excessively long. 

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer precocious announced two new Section 301 investigations related to forced labour and manufacturing. Rumblings successful Washington, alongside warnings from elder medication officials, bespeak that the Trump medication mightiness soon motorboat a Section 301 probe into Europe’s discriminatory integer policies. Such a probe is agelong overdue and should beryllium welcomed. 

But a fair, balanced and transparent integer concern with our European friends is not a given. Here’s why. Over the adjacent respective weeks, Europe volition undoubtedly effort to forestall immoderate imaginable probe by pulling the United States into an endless, futile dialog successful which they committedness to hole each problem, but successful world simply tally retired the timepiece connected addressing the issues.

The medication would beryllium omniscient to debar getting dragged into specified a pointless endeavor that volition necktie it up successful years of bureaucracy and effect successful an imaginary, never-concluded deal.

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President Donald Trump speaks astatine the FII PRIORITY Summit astatine the Faena Hotel connected March 27, 2026, successful Miami Beach, Fla. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

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 3 agelong years without ever producing a last agreement, absorbing clip and attraction but doing small to code imbalances oregon change the underlying trajectory of the commercialized relationship.

The stakes are acold excessively precocious for a repetition feature. The astir consequential distortion successful the transatlantic narration is unfolding successful the regulatory attraction of integer services and platforms. Here, the presumption of contention are progressively being acceptable by a European docket that is unmistakably protectionist. This unfair statement cannot continue, and it’s precocious clip we got to the bottommost of it. 

Europe has spent years gathering a integer regulatory authorities that places unsocial burdens connected American exertion companies. What it presents arsenic neutral governance to beforehand alleged European "digital sovereignty" has, successful practice, concentrated restrictions connected a tiny radical of U.S.-based platforms portion leaving home competitors mostly untouched. And arsenic integer innovation becomes much cardinal to economical and nationalist security, that targeted enforcement has lone intensified successful scope and scale.

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Europe has already directed astir $5 cardinal successful data-privacy penalties astatine American companies, often successful the sanction of "fair competition" oregon "consumer protection." At the same, it forces firms similar Apple, Google, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft to hold merchandise launches, portion retired features, oregon connection watered-down versions of their services nether 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 acold little evident.

More recently, that posture has turned adjacent much aggressive. European authorities raided the Paris offices of X successful February, pursuing months of investigations and a €120 cardinal good imposed without immoderate elaborate ground for the complaint until a U.S. House Committee subpoenaed the decision.

Now European officials are rewriting their projected Digital Networks Act (DNA) to insert caller "network usage fees" that would autumn astir wholly connected U.S. firms. This, contempt a anterior committedness successful a caller associated U.S.-EU commercialized model to debar specified fees. Slipping them into the DNA model amounts to a deliberate breach of that agreement.

This is not precisely the grounds of a neutral regulator oregon a reliable commercialized ally. Nor is determination overmuch denotation that Europe intends to easiness its propulsion to reshape the integer marketplace done protectionist policies that deliberately azygous retired the United States.

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A Section 301 probe is needed into these practices, to code discriminatory integer regulation. It would let the United States to formally measure European practices and supply it with important leverage should the United States privation to participate negotiations aft completing the process. 

Europe has spent years gathering a integer regulatory authorities that places unsocial burdens connected American exertion companies.

In the meantime, Europe should wantonness its run and enactment a just playing field. Although European nations kick astir a deficiency of "digital sovereignty" and U.S. dominance, the information is American firms are, successful fact, dependent connected European vigor systems and connectivity for their information halfway infrastructure. The wiser play for Europe would beryllium to proceed maximizing excellence successful these areas, complementing the strengths of the United States done just competition.

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There whitethorn beryllium a clip and spot for further negotiations. But for now, the United States indispensable found the magnitude of the problem, which tin lone travel done a 301 investigation. Europe cannot beryllium allowed to stall portion expanding its regulatory reach, and exporting its discriminatory exemplary to different countries, including close present successful the Western Hemisphere.

President Trump and his commercialized squad indispensable not participate into what would beryllium an ill-fated, fruitless treatment with the Europeans. Bluntly put, entering into talks present would beryllium a trap. A Section 301 probe into European integer protectionism is simply a necessity. 

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