[CTC] Greer, Lutnick optimistic EU will address digital issues, won’t move on steel first

[Arthur Stamoulis]

*Greer, Lutnick optimistic EU will address digital issues, won’t move on
steel first*
By Brett Fortnam, Inside US Trade  / November 24, 2025 at 2:02 PM

The European Union must address U.S. concerns over its digital regulations
before the U.S. will consider lowering steel and aluminum tariffs, Commerce
Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Monday, joining U.S. Trade Representative
Jamieson Greer in expressing optimism the EU could make progress.

Lutnick and Greer are in Brussels for talks with EU counterparts. They
spoke to reporters after a lunch meeting with trade ministers from the EU’s
27 member states, as well as European Commission Executive Vice President
and Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič.

The U.S. has long taken issue with the EU’s Digital Services Act and
Digital Markets Act, claiming they unfairly discriminate against U.S.
businesses. The EU contends the regulations are country-agnostic. The two
laws were crafted “to create a safer digital space where the fundamental
rights of users are protected and to establish a level playing field for
business,” according to the EU’s website.

“My hope with respect to digital is that the European Union will take our
advice and guidance, which we came in [with] today, solve for some of the
outstanding cases, resolve those cases and basically create a framework
that we are comfortable with,” Lutnick told reporters after the meeting.
“Once they set that framework that we are comfortable with and we
understand it, resolve these outstanding cases that are old, then I think
we can attack the steel and aluminum (tariffs) … and resolve many of these
issues in a very positive way.”

“I think we are on the path,” Lutnick continued. “We are all leaning in and
leaning forward to resolve all these issues together.”

President Trump in September threatened to launch a Section 301 (Trade Act
of 1974) investigation into European digital policies in response to fines
the Commission levied on Google and Apple.

Šefčovič, speaking alongside Lutnick, Greer and Dutch Trade Minister Lars
Løkke Rasmussen, said the two sides discussed how they could “launch this
process on the digital matters” but reiterated the EU’s stance that its
laws do not discriminate against U.S. companies.

The commissioner said he wanted to “reassure” Lutnick “that our laws are
not discriminatory. They’re not aimed at U.S. companies, but we know that
this is one of the issues the U.S. wants to discuss. We are prepared to
respond to the question as the U.S. is prepared to respond to our inquiries
and our suggestion on steel and other sub-sectors which are important to
us. So this, I would say, is a work in progress and we continue to talk.”

Greer responded, noting that the revenue thresholds in the EU regulations
capture “nearly only U.S. companies,” among other complaints. “The
enforcement is quite aggressive at times,” he said. “Complying with the law
can become challenging. Sometimes our companies feel like the goalposts are
moved. The fines can be quite large.”

“I make this point not to be negative, but just to explain a little bit the
U.S. position and challenge we see vis-à-vis these laws,” Greer. “So I’m
greatly encouraged by the conversations we had today.”

Greer and Lutnick are in Brussels to discuss the implementation of the
U.S.-EU trade framework Trump and European Commission Ursula von der Leyen
announced in July; the text was issued in August. The EU agreed to zero out
industrial tariffs on U.S. goods and the U.S. said it would cap tariffs on
most EU products, most notably autos and pharmaceuticals, at 15 percent.

But the EU legislative process for removing its industrial tariffs has
frustrated U.S. officials. The Commission in August proposed legislation to
the European Parliament. The body’s International Trade Committee is
considering amendments to that proposal, which it will discuss next week,
pushing the timeline for eventual passage to early next year.

The amendments Parliament is considering could fundamentally change the
deal. One amendment, part of a package of changes pushed by INTA Chair
Bernd Lange, would require that the U.S. cap steel and aluminum tariffs at
15 percent, with the EU doing the same in return.

The framework the U.S. and EU published in August also left room for
further tariff liberalization, but Greer said that would not be a focus of
trans-Atlantic discussions until the framework was fully implemented.

“The conversations from this weekend were really about stocktaking,
progress, what we’ve achieved, areas of divergence, areas of convergence,”
Greer said. “With respect to items that are potentially subject to tariffs
or not, we have a joint statement from the summer. We’re focused on
implementing that rapidly. In that joint statement, it indicated generally
that there could be consideration for other sectors, other items, things
like that. The most important thing that we do now is implement the joint
statement. It’s really hard to move on to other things or to a broader
process for the economy before we fully implement the first part of the
agreement.”

Greer added that the EU’s legislative process for removing industrial
tariffs on goods from the U.S. was “on the right track.”

Šefčovič and Lutnick said the two sides broadly agree on several issues,
including working together on critical minerals and rare earths access and
addressing Chinese overcapacity. “We also want to focus our minds on a
forward-looking agenda,” Šefčovič said, “including on critical minerals,
where we share the goal of securing reliable supplies while strengthening
our respective industrial bases.”

“We have a shared alignment and understanding to tackle the issues that
face us both together,” Lutnick said. “So we are working closely together
and we expect to work closely on critical minerals, on rare earths, on a
whole variety of those types of topics. Those are easy for us to work
together and those don’t take up a lot of time when we’re talking because
when everybody just agrees right away, it’s not very difficult.”

Šefčovič said he would travel to Washington, DC, in the next few weeks to
continue discussions. -- Brett Fortnam (bfortnam at iwpnews.com)
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