US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has instructed US diplomats to work to undermine the EU’s online moderation rules, according to a diplomatic cable seen by Reuters. 

The State Department cable, sent by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on 4 August, instructs the country’s diplomats to try “to repeal and/or amend” the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), Reuters reported on Thursday.

The revelation is likely to reignite fears that the US will succeed in pushing the Commission water down enforcement of its digital rulebook, if not rip up the rules entirely, to a bid to cement a trade deal with the US.

However Commission trade spokesperson, Olof Gill, sought to downplay the development.

“As we have said many times and I now repeat: our EU regulations and standards were never up for discussion, and this will not change,” said Gill, responding by email to Euractiv’s request for comment.

The US government has also just announced a 100% global tariff on semiconductors – days after the EU said it had agreed a general 15% levy with the US, including for EU-made chips.

Trump announced the 100% tariff on imports of semiconductors on 6 August, exempting only companies that manufacture chips in the US or commit to doing so.

However the EU still believes its agreement with the US stands: Gill stressed that the US committed to a 15% tariff ceiling applying to EU exports on semiconductors “irrespective of other tariffs”.

While concern about hefty US tariffs being slapped on chips may be just a flash in the plan, the US offensive against the EU’s landmark online moderation law looks here to stay – as it goes beyond EU-US trade negotiations.

Rubio’s cable instructs US diplomats to regularly engage with EU governments and digital services authorities to convey US concerns, per Reuters’ reporting.

On a visit to Europe back in February, the US Vice-President, JD Vance, launched a fierce public attack on the DSA – claiming the law amounts to government censorship.

Republican House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Jim Jordan, has since taken up the baton.

In a press release on Tuesday – following a committee delegation’s trip to Brussels and other European capitals to lobby lawmakers with free speech concerns – Jordan wrote: “Nothing we heard in Europe eased our concerns about the Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act, or [the UK’s] Online Safety Act.”

(nl)