European companies will face devastating sanctions from Washington if Brussels continues to implement plans to restrict access to the European market by American competitors, including Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
European companies will face devastating sanctions from Washington if Brussels continues to implement plans to restrict access to the European market by American competitors, including Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
This was warned by the US Ambassador to the EU, Andrew Pazder, the Financial Times reports.
The warning comes after the European Commission proposed this year to reserve some of its spectrum, which allows smartphones to connect directly to satellite communications, for European players. This would limit frequencies for Chinese and American companies such as SpaceX, which operates the Starlink satellite network.
When asked whether European companies should fear sanctions, Pazder replied that they "should be careful."
Previously proposed changes to spectrum allocation have already drawn criticism from SpaceX, which warned that the move risks degrading communications in Ukraine, where its Starlink service is critical for military communications.
Pazder added that he recognizes Europe’s right to protect confidential government information, but warned against using the legislation to favor their own companies at the expense of American competitors.
“If the goal is to make the United States less competitive, I think that’s not a legitimate goal. You don’t make European companies more competitive by making American companies less competitive. We have best-in-class products in this industry. These are reliable products, these are proven products,” he said.
The ambassador also questioned whether the EU’s introduction of the Digital Markets Act, which aims to limit the influence of the world’s largest technology companies, is truly aimed at improving competition or rather at generating revenue for the European budget, given the multi-billion dollar fines for American companies.
"You start to wonder, are we trying to fight competition in the digital market, or are we trying to extract revenue from American companies for the benefit of Europe?" he asked rhetorically.
Pazder added that Europe’s ambitions to strengthen its own technology industry risk being undermined by its regulatory approach and by its disincentives to investment by American companies, as the latter become increasingly frustrated with EU regulatory restrictions and fines.
In his opinion, instead of trying to restrain the dominance of American companies, Brussels and Washington should join forces to compete with China in the race to develop artificial intelligence.
He said the US has the ingredients to win this race, "but it would be much easier if we worked with Europe instead of fighting it."
Earlier, a German startup achieved a “space breakthrough” by independently launching satellites into orbit. Isar CEO Daniel Metzler said the successful launch made history and was a breakthrough that “will shape Europe’s strategic, economic and technological future.”
Meanwhile, the EU is again talking about Ukraine joining its GOVSATCOM network amid disruptions with Starlink.
