Fears grow EU will cave on tech rules amid Trump pressure

BRUSSELS — The European Commission has for the first time signaled flexibility on a major digital rulebook as it seeks relief from Donald Trump’s impending trade tariffs.

Amid growing pressure to find an agreement with Washington ahead of a July 9 deadline, the EU executive said Monday that nothing is off the table in ongoing talks — a shift from its previous position that its digital regulations are not up for negotiation with Trump.

That raised immediate criticism from lawmakers who said they fear Brussels will go too far in its bid to appease U.S. concerns as the deadline nears.

While the EU and the U.S. have increased the pace of talks since the end of May, Brussels is under pressure to find an agreement with Washington as Trump threatens to impose a 50 percent tariff on all its goods as of July 9.

“We will from our side definitely not speculate on a potential outcome, on what may or not be affected,” said Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier on Monday when asked whether EU legislation, such as the bloc’s green and digital rules, were still red lines in talks with Trump.

“We are deeply engaged. We want to find a fair and balanced deal, [a] mutually beneficial deal … I will not, here from this podium, prejudge what can be or is not in this deal,” Regnier told reporters at a briefing in Brussels.

The comments came after the Wall Street Journal reported that Brussels and Washington are nearing a draft agreement on non-tariff barriers, under which the EU would grant American companies exceptions to the EU’s flagship Digital Markets Act (DMA), as well as to environmental laws such as the bloc’s carbon border tax.

The details of the draft agreement, circulated by the U.S. Trade Representative’s office, would effectively gut the EU’s tech competition rulebook, which was expressly designed to regulate how U.S. Big Tech companies should operate on the European market.

“Putting the DMA on hold to placate the United States would be an unacceptable capitulation,” said Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, a French MEP from the Renew party. She warned it would set “a dangerous precedent” if the EU allows countries to pressure it into rewriting laws after they’ve been agreed.

‘Not a trade instrument’

The Commission had previously been categorical in its stance that tech laws are not up for negotiation with the United States as part of trade talks.

“The DMA is not a trade instrument,” said German center-right lawmaker Andreas Schwab, adding that the Commission would be making “a big mistake” if it gave the U.S. the impression that this were the case.

Depending on the scope of the deal, the Commission may not need the Parliament’s sign-off for the final agreement, but would face huge political backlash if it changed the bloc’s laws.

The European Commission has for the first time signaled flexibility on a major digital rulebook as it seeks relief from Donald Trump’s impending trade tariffs. | White House/EPA

During a press conference Monday evening, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was asked if the EU would be prepared to sign a deal that included changes to existing regulations.

“In general, negotiations are only closed at the moment everything is negotiated, but I am very clear on some topics that touch [on the] sovereignty of the decision-making process in the European Union — this is for us absolutely untouchable. We are very clear about that,” she said.

“Of course, we discuss tariff lines, we discuss nontariff barriers … We discuss all these topics. But when it is the sovereign decision making process of the EU and its member states that is affected — that is too far.”

The bloc’s tech rulebooks have been under immense pressure since Trump returned to the White House, with the U.S. president likening the EU’s tech fines to “taxation” and “tariffs.”

As well as pushing back against the digital antitrust law, tech giants have also pushed the Commission to tone down other laws on social media, artificial intelligence and privacy.

Anna Cavazzini, an MEP with the German Greens, said “the U.S. attack on our legislation, aided by illegal tariffs, constitutes economic coercion,” to which “we have the tools to respond and should do so.”

Now “is not the time to give in to bullies,” Cavazzini said.

The Commission’s Regnier stressed that the EU continues to apply its rulebook regardless of the geopolitical context.

“Let me just refer also to the fact that DMA decisions were adopted recently,” he said, referring to the Commission’s fines on U.S. tech giants Apple and Meta.

“Whatever is part of the negotiations will stay in the negotiations until the final deal is found.”

But Yon-Courtin criticized the Commission’s stance on enforcing the laws in recent months. Both the Apple and Meta decisions were delayed and the Commission has yet to conclude other major investigations, including potential fines against X for breaching online content rules.

“We’ve already seen Commissioner [Henna] Virkkunen appear weak, and President [Ursula] von der Leyen reluctant to take the bold step of issuing the first DMA fines in the midst of a trade dispute,” Yon-Courtin said.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was asked if the EU would be prepared to sign a deal that included changes to existing regulations. | Spencer Colby/EPA

She called on the European Commission “to publicly and unequivocally deny that there is any horse-trading on the enforcement of our European rules.”

Speaking of Monday’s trade talks in Berlin, Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said: “We are moving in the right direction. But the race isn’t won until the finish line is crossed.”

“We are doing our utmost to get the best possible deal for the EU,” the Slovak commissioner said.

Yurii Stasiuk contributed reporting.