The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has said in a post on X that the United States could impose “fees or restrictions on foreign services,” warning it would use “every tool at its disposal” to counter what it called discriminatory EU measures, and naming European firms including Accenture, DHL, Siemens, Spotify, Amadeus, Capgemini, Mistral, Publicis and SAP as examples of service providers it said operate in the U.S. market.
A European Commission spokesperson responded that the bloc’s tech rules “apply equally and fairly to all companies,” Reuters reported.
USTR said the EU and some member states have pursued “discriminatory” measures, including “lawsuits, taxes, fines and directives,” and said the United States would use “every tool at its disposal” to respond.
Section 301 of U.S. trade law authorizes responses that can include “fees or restrictions on the services of” a foreign country, in addition to measures affecting goods.
The statute also allows action with respect to “any goods or services” of a foreign country, or “any other area of pertinent relations” with that country.
The warning followed a December 5 European Commission decision fining X €120 million under the Digital Services Act for breaching DSA transparency obligations, citing the “deceptive design” of its paid blue checkmark, shortcomings in its advertising repository, and failure to provide researchers access to public data.
The Commission’s DSA explainer says the rules apply to services such as online marketplaces, social networks, app stores and online travel and accommodation platforms, and are intended to make the online environment “safe and trustworthy.”
USTR’s post also referenced other EU actions, including fines and directives, beyond DSA enforcement. Separately, the European Commission said it fined Google €2.95 billion over abusive practices in online advertising technology under EU antitrust rules and ordered the company to bring the conduct to an end, framing the decision as necessary to keep digital markets “grounded in trust and fairness.”
Separately, the EU’s Digital Markets Act is designed to make digital markets “fairer and more contestable” by setting obligations and prohibitions for designated “gatekeepers.”