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EU Tech Regs Survive, For Now, in Trade Agreement With US

By  |  August 21, 2025
The U.S. and the European Union agreed to punt, for now, on the question of the EU’s digital platform regulations in their trade deal.
The two sides released a joint statement Thursday offering details on the framework accord reached last month, which leaves out any reference to U.S. demands for changes to the Digital Services Act or Digital Markets Act. Instead, it refers only to a mutual commitment “to address unjustified digital trade barriers,” and to “work together” to reduce non-tariff trade barriers.
The absence of any explicit language on the digital regulations in the joint statement is a win for the EU, at least for now. The U.S. had pressed aggressively in the negotiations for changes to the DSA and other EU tech regulations, which it claims unfairly target U.S. companies. As recently as Monday (8/18) the Financial Times was reporting that the dispute over the regs was holding up any agreement on a joint written statement formalizing the handshake deal reached between President Trump and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
Throughout the negotiations, however, the EU has held firm that changes to digital technology laws were off the table. A Q&A on the joint statement released by the Commission said it “does not include any commitment on EU digital regulations. We have made it very clear to the US that changes to our digital regulations – the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act – were not on the table.”
Still, that may not be the last word on the matter. The U.S. is expected to continue to pressure the EU over the rules, particularly content restrictions the U.S. claims amount to censorship of U.S. citizens and companies.
In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened to impose new visa restrictions on “foreign nationals who are responsible for censorship of protected expression in the United States,” including EU policymakers. It is “unacceptable for foreign officials to demand that American tech platforms adopt global content moderation policies or engage in censorship activity that reaches beyond their authority and into the United States,” Rubio said.
In July, the House Judiciary Committee released a 145-page report that accused the EU of creating a “global censorship regime.” It also issued subpoenas to U.S. tech companies for information on EU regulatory oversight.
In another partial victory for the EU, the U.S. agreed to lower its tariffs on automobiles and auto parts, and pharmaceuticals from 25% to 15%, in line with the levy imposed on all other goods in the deal. The reduction in auto tariffs will be delayed, however, until the EU initiates a process to eliminate tariffs on U.S. goods.
The across-the-board 15% tariff on EU goods is nonetheless a setback for European companies that previously enjoyed mostly unfettered access to the U.S. market.
In a statement, von der Leyen tried to put the best face she could on a bad situation. “Faced with a challenging situation, we have delivered for our Member States and industry, and restored clarity and coherence to transatlantic trade,” she said. “This is not the end of the process, we continue to engage with the US to agree more tariff reductions, to identify more areas of cooperation, and to create more economic growth potential.”