European Commissioner Teresa Ribera accuses the United States of “blackmail” in trade negotiations

Teresa Ribera — who, as the Commission’s first executive vice-president, is number 2 in the EU executive behind President Ursula von der Leyen — stressed that European digital regulation should have no connection with trade negotiations. Donald Trump’s team seeks to revise theaccord concluded by the American president with Ursula von der Leyen in her Scottish golf course in July.

These statements come at a sensitive time in current trade negotiations. Washington considers the DMA to be discriminatory, because the large technology platforms it regulates – such as Microsoft, Google or Amazon – are almost all American. He also protests against the Digital Services Regulation (DSA)which aims to limit illegal hate speech and misinformation online, as it is designed to frame social networks like Elon Musk’s X.

Teresa Ribera recalled that these rules were a question of sovereignty, and that they should not fall within the scope of a commercial negotiation.

“We respect the rules, whatever they are, that they have established for their markets: the digital market, the health sector, steel, whatever you want (…) cars, standards,” she asked, speaking of the United States. “It’s their problem, their regulation and their sovereignty. It’s the same here.”

Teresa Ribera, together with Commissioner for Digital Technologies Henna Virkkunen, oversees the DMA, which ensures the proper behavior of large digital platforms and fair competition.

She reacted strongly to the comments made by Howard Lutnick during his meeting with European officials and ministers on Monday, insisting that “European digital rules are not up for negotiation”.