Leaders of Senate Finance Committee call on Biden to address digital trade laws

The leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-ID), are calling on the Biden administration to work with the European Union to revise certain aspects of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA).

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The lawmakers say the regulations focus on a handful of American companies while failing to regulate similar companies based in Europe, China, Russia, and elsewhere. Wyden and Crapo say the laws give foreign companies a competitive advantage and run counter to the principles of international trade.

“[We] applaud the EU’s objectives to ensure fair conditions for competition in the digital services sector and improve the welfare of consumers. However, policies intended to meaningfully address the excess market power of technology firms must apply equally to firms based in Europe, China, the United States, and other countries,” the lawmakers wrote to President Joe Biden.

If changes are not made, the policies will distort trade by disadvantaging U.S. companies and provide an edge to government-owned and subsidized companies based in China and Russia.

“With updates to digital competition policy being considered now on both sides of the Atlantic, we see an important opportunity to collaborate on meaningful policies that can promote transparency, competition, and consumer protection for all our citizens. At the same time, we strongly support [the Biden Administration’s] efforts to encourage the EU to abandon the discriminatory aspects of these measures and move to a strategy that achieves competition and consumer protection objectives on an even-handed and non-discriminatory basis,” Wyden and Crapo wrote.