US government to investigate EU trade practices over penalties on American tech firms

Twenty-five Republican lawmakers sent a formal letter to President Donald Trump on July 21, 2026, urging him to open a Section 301 investigation into two of the European Union’s most consequential digital regulations. The target: the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act, a pair of sweeping EU laws that have cost American tech companies billions in fines and forced significant changes to how they operate in Europe.

The core argument from the lawmakers is straightforward. The EU’s regulatory framework, they contend, functions less like a neutral rulebook and more like a competitive weapon, one aimed squarely at American companies while leaving European and Chinese rivals relatively unscathed.

The fine print, and the fines

The numbers behind this dispute are not small. By April 2026, cumulative EU penalties against tech firms had crossed $7 billion. That figure includes a €500 million fine against Apple and a €200 million fine against Meta, both issued in April 2025. In July 2026, Google received an additional €890 million penalty under DMA enforcement.

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 is the legal mechanism the lawmakers want deployed here. It gives the US Trade Representative the authority to investigate foreign trade practices deemed unfair or discriminatory, and to respond with tariffs or other restrictions.

The Office of the US Trade Representative had already signaled its posture in December 2025, when it named specific European companies, including SAP, Spotify, and Accenture, as potential targets for countermeasures if the EU did not walk back what the USTR characterized as discriminatory practices.

Why the EU sees it differently

The European Union’s position is that the DMA and DSA apply equally to all companies that meet the relevant size and market-power thresholds, regardless of national origin. Brussels has consistently framed these laws as consumer protection and competition policy, not trade policy.

The problem, from Washington’s perspective, is that the companies currently meeting those thresholds are almost exclusively American. Google, Apple, Meta, and Amazon dominate the list of designated gatekeepers under the DMA. European and Chinese firms, by and large, do not yet operate at the scale that triggers the law’s heaviest obligations and penalties.

The DMA in particular imposes strict behavioral requirements on large platform operators, covering everything from data sharing and interoperability to how default settings can be configured. Non-compliance triggers fines of up to 10% of global annual revenue, with repeat violations potentially drawing penalties of up to 20%.

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