JD Vance Knocks EU’s Regulation Of US Tech Giants: ‘America Cannot Accept That’

Posted by Admin February 11, 2025 Tech

Topline

Vice President JD Vance warned European leaders against heavily regulating U.S. tech companies and said excessive efforts by the European Union to regulate artificial intelligence could stymie its growth, during an AI summit in Paris Tuesday that marks his first foreign trip since taking office.

US Vice President JD Vance speaks during a plenary session at the Artificial Intelligence (AI) … [+] Action Summit, at the Grand Palais, in Paris.

AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

Addressing the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris— organized by French President Macron and whose attendees include several world leaders—Vance said under the Trump administration, the U.S. intends to be the leader and “gold standard” in AI.

The vice president urged European governments to “look to this new frontier with optimism, rather than trepidation” and warned that “excessive regulation” of AI technologies could “kill a transformative industry.”

Vance warned that the Trump administration “cannot and will not accept” efforts by foreign governments to tighten the screws on “U.S. tech companies with international footprints.”

Vance then specifically criticized the EU’s Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act (DSA) and General Data Protection Regulation—regulatory actions that U.S. tech companies have complained about—as “onerous international rules.”

Vance called out the DSA in particular, saying it created massive regulations about “taking down content and policing so-called misinformation,” saying it was “preventing a grown man or woman from accessing an opinion that the government thinks is misinformation.”

Vance warned that these regulatory efforts by the EU could cause companies to simply block EU users to avoid issues and asked “Is this really the future that we want?”

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What Did Vance Say On China And Ai?

Vance did not explicitly mention China, but took several veiled shots at the country:: “Some authoritarian regimes have stolen and used AI to strengthen their military intelligence and surveillance capabilities, capture foreign data and create propaganda to undermine other nations’ national security.” The vice president said the Trump administration will block such efforts going forward by safeguarding American AI and chip technologies from “theft and misuse.” With Chinese vice premier Zhang Guoqing being in attendance, Vance warned other nations against partnering with “authoritarian regimes,” saying it “never pays off. The vice president said such partnerships will result in “chaining your nation to an authoritarian master that seeks to infiltrate, dig in and seize your information infrastructure.”

What Did The Eu President Say?

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addressed the summit immediately after Vance. Von der Leyen said she disagrees with any assessment that says “Europe is late to the race – while the US and China have already gotten ahead.” She said the “global leadership” in AI was still up for grabs, however, Europe needed its own “distinctive approach to AI.” The European leader’s speech mentioned the bloc’s AI Act, which has come under some criticism from the likes of OpenAI, and said it intended to “provide for one single set of safety rules across the European Union…instead of 27 different national regulations. And safety is in the interest of businesses.”