EU asked to explain DMA and DSA rules to US

United States House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan has demanded that Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just, and Competitive Transition Teresa Ribera clarify how she enforces the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and other European rules onto tech companies.

Jordan’s request comes a few days after President Donald Trump signed a memorandum saying that his administration will investigate Europe’s DMA and Digital Services Act (DSA) legislation. According to Trump, these laws “dictate how American companies interact with consumers in the European Union.”

The DMA and DSA were originally drafted to protect European consumers from tech companies that abuse their dominant market position. They offer them greater choice and create a level-playing field for newcomers. Infringements can be punished by imposing fines of up to 10% of a company’s global annual turnout.

President Trump and Jordan, however, feel that the European legislation is aimed at American tech companies. They also consider fines a form of tariff, which is bad news for competition and innovation.

“We write to express our concerns that the DMA may target American companies,” Jordan wrote in a letter sent to Ribera on Sunday, which was seen by Reuters. In addition, the House Judiciary Chair states that the DMA and DSA are considered ‘burdensome regulations’ and give European companies an advantage.

“These severe fines appear to have two goals: to compel businesses to follow European standards worldwide and as a European tax on American companies. These, along with other provisions of the DMA, stifle innovation, disincentivize research and development, and hand vast amounts of highly valuable proprietary data to companies and adversarial nations,” Jordan continues.

The European Commission has denied that European legislation is aimed at American companies.

The European Commission is currently fighting DMA-compliance battles with several American tech companies, including Meta, Apple, Google, YouTube, and Snapchat.