Last year, I called out the Biden administration’s USTR for failing to stand up for American tech and industry in its 2024 National Trade Estimate (NTE) Report on Foreign Trade Barriers. At the time, I warned this inaction handed adversarial nations like China a dangerous opportunity to exploit our hesitancy, while foreign regulations—like those brewing in the European Union—went unchallenged.
Today, I’m pleased to see a starkly different approach under President Trump’s administration. The 2025 NTE Report, released under the leadership of U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, marks a refreshing and much-needed shift. It squarely addresses burdensome, anti-American measures that threaten U.S. innovation and trade—most notably, the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act).
For too long, American tech giants have faced a barrage of foreign regulations designed not just to regulate but to handicap U.S. competitiveness. The EU’s DMA, now explicitly called out in the 2025 NTE Report, is a prime example. Enforced since May 2023, this regulation targets so-called “gatekeepers”—almost exclusively U.S. firms like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta—for stringent compliance requirements and hefty fines. The DMA’s selective enforcement reeks of protectionism, shielding European competitors while punishing American innovation. Similarly, the EU’s AI Act, introduced in 2024 and highlighted in the updated report, layers on additional rules that disproportionately hit U.S. tech firms at the forefront of AI development.
Last year’s report released by Biden’s USTR Katherine Tai sidestepped the DMA and ignored the broader implications of the EU’s regulatory onslaught. It was a missed opportunity to defend U.S. tech, and combined with other Biden bureaucrats actively working with foreign regulators on proposals to attack our own tech industry, the Biden administration was clearly not willing or interested in defending America’s digital trade interests.
Under Jamieson Greer’s stewardship, the 2025 report recognizes these EU measures as for what they are: significant barriers to American trade. This gives a voice to the concerns of U.S. industry leaders who’ve long felt targeted by Brussels’ regulatory overreach. As a result, the 2025 report sends a strong signal that America won’t sit idly by as its industries are unfairly targeted and hamstrung by foreign regulators.
Recent European commentary underscores how the EU might wield the DMA and Digital Services Act (DSA) as retaliatory tools against President Trump’s proposed tariffs. In doing so, they show that these regulations can, and are, being used to undermine American trade interests.
This year’s National Trade Estimates Report on Foreign Trade Barriers is a win for American workers, innovators and consumers who rely on our leadership in digital markets. USTR Greer’s team has shown that the U.S. can and will confront foreign barriers head-on, from Beijing’s Great Firewall to Brussels’ bureaucratic maze—as they should!
Summary of Changes to Barriers to Digital Trade with Major Trading Partners
Here’s a summary of key differences between the 2024 and 2025 NTE Reports on digital trade barriers for the EU, China, Canada, and the UK:
- European Union (EU):
- 2024: Focused on the pre-enforcement Digital Services Act (DSA, adopted 2022), GDPR’s data transfer challenges post-Schrems II, and the proposed ePrivacy Regulation. The DMA was conspicuously absent despite its 2022 adoption.
- 2025: Adds the DMA (enforced May 2023) as a major barrier, highlighting its targeting of U.S. “gatekeepers,” alongside the DSA’s intensified enforcement (February 2024). Introduces the 2024 AI Act as a new compliance burden. Updates GDPR with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (July 2023), noting lingering uncertainties.
- China:
- 2024: Covered the Great Firewall, 2017 Cybersecurity Law, VPN restrictions, cloud service bans, encryption standards, and censorship as entrenched barriers.
- 2025: Retains these core issues but adds the 2023 Measures for Standard Contract for Cross-Border Transfer of Personal Information and the 2024 Provisions on the Governance of Online Information Content Ecosystem, signaling tighter regulatory control.
- Canada:
- 2024: Highlighted the Online Streaming Act (enacted April 2023) with Canadian content quotas and provincial data localization (e.g., British Columbia, Nova Scotia) as barriers.
- 2025: Updates the Streaming Act with CRTC regulations expected by late 2025, noting increased compliance costs. Data localization remains unchanged, with no federal relief.
- United Kingdom (UK):
- 2024: Noted the pre-enactment Online Safety Bill (became law October 2023) and UK GDPR’s data flow uncertainties.
- 2025: Reflects the Online Safety Act’s implementation, citing compliance costs and moderation risks, and adds the UK-U.S. Data Bridge (October 2023) as a partial facilitator amid ongoing concerns.