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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
The EU and the U.S. have often diverged on tech policy, and the new administration is set to move things even further apart.
The big picture: Under the Biden administration, there was more common ground as bipartisan efforts to reel in tech around competition, content moderation and AI policy gained steam. That's all changed with President Trump.
- He still wants to go after Big Tech, but by a completely different route.
- Under former FTC and Justice Department leaders Lina Khan and Jonathan Kanter, EU and U.S. officials were in close dialogue about tech policy.
- There was still an overarching sense that the U.S. would never want to regulate tech as strictly as Europe, but European-influenced tech policy ideas were gaining a steady stream of support under Biden.
State of play: Last week in Washington, a group of seven members of European Parliament met with members of the Trump administration in the White House and across agencies.
- The goal was to dispel myths about major pieces of European tech legislation: the Digital Markets Act, the Digital Services Act, and the AI Act.
What they're saying: "During our visit in Washington, it became clear that the Trump administration is fully going after the EU's tech regulation," Anna Cavazzini, vice-chair of the European Parliament's committee on the internal market and consumer protection, told Axios.
- "It became also clear the Trump administration has an interesting interpretation of influence, as they are going after a sovereign state that is regulating its own market," she said.
- The tone shift was clear: It's now "America First," including tech, she said.
Zoom in: Cavazzini said Europe has the right to regulate tech the way it sees fit within its own borders, and companies do not have to follow their rules outside of Europe.
Six MEPs, along with Cavazzini, met with officials from the State Department, the FTC, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Reps. Jim Jordan, Scott Fitzgerald, Mark Green and Don Beyer on Capitol Hill, the European Parliament's liaison office in D.C. said.
- Cavazzini's meetings with FTC officials showed that while the FTC wasn't likely to drop ongoing tech antitrust cases, there is a dislike of the DMA, she said.
- Around AI, MEPs said they were concerned about a move away in tone from U.S. regulators from "safety" in AI development.
- A meeting with OSTP's Lynne Parker was constructive, Cavazzini said, although it's clear the U.S. and EU are taking different regulatory approaches.
On Capitol Hill, there was clear opposition to the DMA and DSA, including from Jordan.
- Cavazzini said "he was in listening mode" during their meeting, but Europeans were unlikely to change his mind about their legislation's intent.
The bottom line: There is still a strong push to regulate tech more strongly in D.C., and some definite throughlines from Biden to Trump on antitrust.
- But rocky days are coming between the EU and the U.S. on tech, this visit indicated, though Cavazzini said the meetings were "overall constructive to broaden each other's understanding."
- "Neither the DSA or DMA nor the AI Act have exterritorial implications," she said.
- "Wanting to protect the European users and European children is a right of Europeans, and the fact the Trump administration is not understanding this is quite astonishing."
