The Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act have both been heavily criticized by the Trump administration.
The European Union pushed back against American criticism of its tech rules amid ongoing trade negotiations with the United States.
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) reins in the power of very large online platforms (VLOPs) and very large online search engines (VLOSEs), including U.S. companies Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft.
The Digital Services Act (DSA) requires large online platforms to do more to tackle illegal and harmful content.
Violations of the legislation can lead to hefty fines being imposed, in some instances of up to 10 percent of their annual worldwide turnover for a first offense, and for repeated violations, this can increase to 20 percent.
Both laws have come under fire from the Trump administration, which says they unfairly target U.S. tech companies.
“Our legislation is not on the table. It is not open for negotiations, and this also includes, of course, our digital legislation,” European Commission spokesperson for tech sovereignty, defense, space, and research Thomas Regnier told a daily news conference in Brussels.
In response to a follow-up question, he doubled down, saying: “Our legislation will not be changed. The DMA and the DSA are not on the table in the trade negotiations with the United States.”
He added, “Our decision-making process and our sovereign decisions, and legislations, are not on the table.”
However, he said that the commission, which acts as the 27-nation bloc’s executive branch, wanted a deal and remained optimistic of reaching an accord with Washington by the July 9 deadline.
The comments from the commission came after President Donald Trump appeared to suggest that the legislation was up for discussion, in a post on Truth Social announcing the breaking off of trade deal talks with Canada on Friday.
The comments from the commission came after President Donald Trump appeared to suggest that the legislation was up for discussion, in a post on Truth Social announcing the breaking off of trade deal talks with Canada on Friday.
By Guy Birchall
