Europe Asia News

After the US administration issued direct threats of retaliation, the European Union and some of its largest companies avoided a confrontation on Wednesday.

The Office of the US Trade Representative said late Tuesday that it would use every tool at its disposal to counter “unreasonable” EU rules that disproportionately harm American companies operating in Europe.

Pointing to a potential list of retaliation targets, the office named nine European companies that have “so far benefited from broad market access” in the United States. These include Ireland’s Accenture; Spain’s Amadeus; France’s Capgemini, Publicis and AI giant Mistral; Germany’s DHL, SAP and Siemens; and Sweden’s Spotify.

While this marks the latest example of reciprocal retaliation between the two jurisdictions, it is the first time specific European companies have been targeted.

The hardening rhetoric from the Trump administration reflects growing frustration among senior officials in Washington over the EU’s technology rules.

The EU fined Elon Musk’s X company €120 million for failing to meet transparency obligations, prompting a significant backlash from the United States.

The European Commission, responsible for enforcing the digital laws that have angered Washington, responded on Tuesday by maintaining that EU rules are non-discriminatory and will continue to be applied.

Spokesman Thomas Regnier told Politico: “As we have clearly stated many times, our rules apply equally and fairly to all companies operating in the EU.”

Mistral, SAP, Siemens and Spotify declined to comment. Other companies on the list did not respond to requests for comment.