The contributions of American tech and cultural players to the White House’s call on trade barriers show that each wants to see different European measures disappear: tech is attacking taxes on digital services, the DSA and the DMA, while the cultural sector is criticizing the copyright directive’s text and data mining exception. The only unconditional supporter of European competition regulation is app developers. On February 21, the US trade representative (USTR) issued a call for comments « to Assist in Reviewing and Identifying Unfair Trade Practices and Initiating All Necessary Actions to Investigate Harm From Non-Reciprocal Trade Arrangements ». This call follows the White House memorandum of the same day entitled « defending American companies and innovators form overseas extortions and unfair finales and penalties. » USTR received no fewer than 768 responses, from sectors as diverse as fishing, food, automotive and raw materials. Some contributions were sent by foreign governments and business associations. While Canada, Brazil, Japan and others sent in their responses, no European country or institution saw fit to contribute, even though a number of elected officials and senior civil servants have taken the floor on numerous occasions to criticize Donald Trump’s action in this area. The only European industry association to have sent comments is…
