Trade dispute: dispute over EU digital laws

Disagreements over European digital laws are delaying the trade agreement between the EU and the US . The EU is resisting making the so-called Digital Services Act (DSA) a subject of negotiations, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. This is one of the reasons why a final version of the trade agreement reached in July is taking so long. The core of the dispute is disagreement over wording regarding "non-tariff trade barriers." For the US, this also includes the EU's digital regulations. No comment from the EU Commission, the White House, or the US State Department on the report was immediately available.

Under the DSA, companies must take action against hate speech and other illegal content online. Manipulative practices that pressure users to make purchases are prohibited, as is advertising targeted at children. Violations can result in fines of up to six percent of global annual revenue. Among those targeted are US companies such as Facebook's parent company Meta and Google's parent company Alphabet, as well as Chinese companies such as the short video platform TikTok, which is part of the Chinese group Bytedance. The US government views the EU's actions as an impermissible interference with freedom of expression.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump reached an agreement in July. This agreement provides for a 15 percent import tariff on most EU goods. This was intended to avert a trade war. However, according to the report, the US wants to keep open the possibility of concessions in the DSA. According to a US official, the Trump administration is postponing the promised tariff reductions for car exports from the EU to the US until a joint declaration is signed. The EU Commission had originally expected Trump to reduce tariffs on car exports from 27.5 percent to 15 percent by August 15.