Brussels has complained that a senior US official is campaigning on behalf of Big Tech, days after the EU approved a common position on draft rules aimed at curbing the power of large American tech companies, fuelling a transatlantic tit-for-tat among senior officials.
Thierry Breton, the EU internal markets commissioner, accused US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo of lobbying on behalf of the sector after she said this month that new European rules were “disproportionately” targeting US companies.
Breton said he had already discussed these concerns with Raimondo and that he was “a little bit astonished” to learn that she was airing the same issues publicly.