Top EU official accuses US of 'blackmail' in trade talks
Source: Politico (EU)
November 27, 2025 4:10 am CET
BRUSSELS — Europe’s antitrust chief Teresa Ribera has unleashed a blistering attack on the Trump administration, accusing Washington of using “blackmail” to strong-arm the EU into watering down its tech rulebook. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Monday in Brussels that the U.S. could modify its approach on steel and aluminum tariffs if the EU reconsidered its digital rules.
European officials interpreted his remarks as targeting the EU’s flagship tech regulations, including the Digital Markets Act (DMA). “It is blackmail,” the Spanish commissioner told POLITICO in an interview on Wednesday. “[This] being their intention does not mean that we accept that kind of blackmail.”
Ribera — who as executive vice president of the Commission ranks second to President Ursula von der Leyen — said the EU’s digital rulebook should have nothing to do with trade negotiations. Donald Trump’s team is seeking to overhaul the framework trade agreement he struck with von der Leyen at his Scottish golf resort in July.
The intervention lands at a sensitive time in ongoing trade talks. Washington views the DMA as discriminatory because the large technology platforms it regulates — like Microsoft, Google or Amazon — are nearly all American. It also takes exception to the Digital Services Act, which seeks to curb illegal online speech, seeing it as designed to restrict social networks like Elon Musk’s X. Ribera said the rules were a matter of sovereignty and should not be brought into the scope of a trade negotiation.
Read more: https://www.politico.eu/article/top-eu-official-teresa-ribera-accuses-us-of-blackmail-in-trade-talks/
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