The Trump administration’s 2025 annual report on trade barriers highlights the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) fines on US companies, just ahead of a much expected announcement of reciprocal tariffs on 2 April.
In the report, the administration lists an overview of EU policies it believes constitute trade barriers to US companies operating in Europe.
Among new laws added to this year’s report were the DMA, Digital Services Act (DSA), the AI act, Data Act, and data localisation requirements.
The main concern of the administration is that a majority of companies designated under the DMA and DSA are US tech giants.
The report also wrongly says that the Commission “has imposed excessive fines for violating the DMA” on US companies. While the Big Tech platforms have been fined by the EU in the past, at the time of publication, the Commission has never issued a fine under the DMA.
The administration is also worried about the AI Act’s disclosure requirements. The Act mandates AI developers to publish a report on the data used to train their model. The Commission is yet to publish a template for this. However, if the template requires granular disclosure, “it may impinge on the IP (intellectual property), including trade secrets of model developers” the report reads.
The AI Act will be accompanied by standards, still to be developed by the EU’s standardisation bodies. The Trump administration is concerned that if these deviate from international standards, US companies might de facto have to adapt to the EU’s standards.
The Trump administration is set to announce tariffs tomorrow (2 April). Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU had a “strong plan” to respond.
Europe did not start the tariff confrontation.
Tariffs are taxes, paid by the people.
But Europe has everything to protect our people and our prosperity.
We will always promote & defend our interests and values.
And we will always stand up for Europe. https://t.co/l4xeJOAScz
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) April 1, 2025
