Kristin Wooster

Growing tensions between the United States and Europe over digital trade and technology regulation risk weakening the transatlantic alliance at a time of intensifying competition with China. Washington sees European rules as disproportionately targeting U.S. firms, while Europe views them as necessary to reduce dependence on American technology. Unless both sides address these differing threat perceptions and pursue regulatory compatibility, fragmentation could undermine their ability to shape global technology rules and allow China to fill the gap.

Global trade is evolving into a form of mercantilist economic warfare where foreign nations use discriminatory regulations to target the U.S. tech sector, draining its wealth and undermining American innovation.

The House Judiciary Committee has launched an investigation into South Korea's discriminatory targeting of U.S. tech companies, particularly Coupang, marking an important escalation in Washington's pushback against non-tariff attacks that use regulatory measures to weaken American technology leadership. These attacks—which have cost U.S. tech companies over $30 billion globally in the past decade—disproportionately target American firms through fines, operational restrictions, and forced infrastructure investments while creating openings for Chinese competitors.

Policymakers seeking to rein in or break up market-leading tech firms should consider a more balanced approach that recognizes the crucial role they play in strengthening America in its intensifying economic and geopolitical competition with China.