US Lawmakers Want EU Punished Over Alleged Big Tech Attacks
Sixteen members of Congress signed a letter asking President Donald Trump to take action in response to what they called European Union “discriminatory digital policies” that target technology companies in the United States.
Rep. Pat Harrigan of North Carolina shared the letter in a Tuesday (July 21) post on social platform X, saying that he joined the letter to urge Trump to “use every available tool” to push back against these policies.
“Europe doesn’t get to punish American innovation while expecting unlimited access to the American market,” Harrigan said in his post.
I joined a letter urging @POTUS to use every available tool to push back against the EU’s discriminatory treatment of American technology companies.
Europe doesn’t get to punish American innovation while expecting unlimited access to the American market. pic.twitter.com/gXkCrmLh1F
— Congressman Pat Harrigan (@RepPatHarrigan) July 21, 2026
The letter highlighted the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which the signers said has thresholds that primarily target U.S. tech companies while sparing European and Chinese competitors.
It added that the EU is set to expand its interpretation of the DMA to include Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure; is preparing to impose the largest DMA fine ever on Google despite the company’s efforts to comply with the law; and is running DMA “specification proceedings” that could harm the intellectual property (IP) rights, privacy and security of U.S. operating systems.
“In each case, the DMA or other associated EU investigations force American companies to degrade their products, surrender their intellectual property, or open proprietary platforms and sensitive systems to competitors who invested nothing in building them,” the letter said.
The letter also pointed to the EU’s recently proposed Cloud & AI Development Act, saying that this would prohibit American companies from being able to compete for portions of the EU’s public sector cloud and AI market.
The letter encourages Trump to consider fees or restrictions on European companies operating in the U.S. if the EU does not resolve these issues quickly.
“It is important to make clear that the EU’s access to the U.S. market is not guaranteed and can be limited should the EU continue to pursue discriminatory acts, policies and practices in the digital sector,” the letter said.
It was reported in August that when Trump said EU digital regulations unfairly discriminate against American technology firms, the EU responded that the rules are designed to apply broadly to all companies operating in the bloc.
