WASHINGTON, D.C. – National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) President Jake Colvin today issued a statement following the EU’s preliminary designation of two American cloud providers as gatekeepers under the European Union’s (EU) Digital Markets Act (DMA):
“The preliminary view announced by the European Commission that Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure (Azure) should be designated as gatekeepers under the DMA is yet another effort to target and disadvantage successful U.S. companies in the EU market.
“Moving ahead with this investigation even when DMA gatekeeper thresholds are not met is baffling and shows the Commission can simply hand-pick leading U.S. companies for regulation under the DMA whenever it chooses.
“Key issues raised by the Commission in this designation, such as the ability for cloud service clients to switch providers, data portability, and interoperability are already regulated by the EU Data Act.
“This designation will not just harm American companies by increasing costs and compliance burdens in the U.S., it will also negatively affect investment and innovation in Europe and EU customer’s access to these services.
“This decision – ironically announced on the same day EU member states approved tariff cuts under the U.S.-EU Joint Statement on reciprocal balanced trade – shows that there is still significant work to be done to ensure U.S. companies face a level playing field in Europe. We urge the administration to engage with the EU to prevent this unnecessary and discriminatory designation.”
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About the NFTC
The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) is the premier business association advancing trade, tax, national security, and supply chain policies that support access to the global marketplace. Founded in 1914, NFTC promotes an open, rules-based global economy on behalf of a diverse membership of U.S.-based businesses, who account for over $6 trillion in revenue and employ nearly 6 million people in the United States.
