The European Commission on Wednesday confirmed tech talks are taking place with the United States, after media reports had suggested it could give Washington a say over how EU rules are enforced on US tech companies in the future.

European tech rules have been a flapping red rag for Donald Trump since his re-election, with the US president explicitly directing his administration to apply pressure on Brussels to weaken them.

The topic became especially politicised last year, when the US threw up high tariff barriers against supposed European allies – linked lowering them with the EU changing its rules.

For its part, the Commission has publicly maintained that the EU’s landmark tech rulebook – principally the Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA) – is not on the negotiating table in EU–US tariff talks.

A Commission spokesperson reiterated that this position on Wednesday. But they also confirmed that it’s in discussions with the US to set up a “dialogue to reinforce our cooperation on digital technologies and markets”.

“This will allow us to clarify misunderstandings and promote cooperation to tackle global challenges together,” the spokesperson added.

The newspaper also said that Brussels was looking to give Washington more of a say without officially weakening its rulebook, which could be possible since the Berlaymont has large leeway in deciding which cases to open under EU platform and competition rules, as well as how fast to progress probes and how tough any resulting enforcement should be.

The Commission, for example, took nearly two years to fine Elon Musk’s social media platform X €120 million under the DSA.

Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera also still needs to confirm remedies related to a long running competition enforcement on Google’s AdTech – following a €2.95 billion penalty announced last September – including making a call on whether to break up its business.

The plodding pace of Commission enforcement of the EU’s digital rulebook has led to pushback from European leaders, including France’s Emmanuel Macron, who has called for tech enforcement on Big Tech to go faster.

(nl)