1. ❌ PUZDER TO EU: ESG IS KILLING BUSINESS GROWTH

Andrew Puzder, the Ambassador of the United States to the European Union, published an op-ed this week arguing Europe can’t reindustrialize while Brussels shackles its energy production with the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). He warns that Europe’s “gargantuan regulatory apparatus” is driving companies to prepare for their exit from the continent, taking jobs, investment, and affordable power with them.

Ambassador Puzder has been a consistent voice against the EU’s overbearing climate agenda. In September 2025, he called the EU’s ESG directives “draconian pieces of legislation” arguing that CSDDD converts boards into compliance police, restricts the ability to operate, and imports legal risk throughout entire value chains.

He’s not alone. U.S. officials are increasingly vocal about the spillover costs Brussels is imposing on American companies. Representative Andy Barr (R-KY) put it bluntly in a statement to the Washington Reporter saying:

“The last thing America wants to import from Europe is a broken regulatory system that discriminates against energy production and drives up costs.”

Brussels is trying to export its far-left agenda deep into global supply chains, layer on red tape, and drive companies away from Europe. The Trump administration is fighting for American businesses while Brussels tries to choke prosperity at every turn.

2.🤖 U.S. REITERATES DEMANDS TO PROTECT AMERICAN COMPANIES

The U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is demanding ‘balanced’ EU digital rules and is publicly reiterating the administration’s strong opposition to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and other EU digital-regulation frameworks, arguing they impose disproportionate burdens on American tech firms.

Some say compliance costs for U.S. companies operating in Europe could average $430 million per firm per year, a cumulative drag estimated to cost $2.2 trillion in lost revenue and slash $325 billion in global R&D investment by 2030.

At a recent trans-Atlantic meeting, Secretary Howard Lutnick made clear: future trade deals must be contingent on the repeal or major overhaul of these digital regulations.

“Once they set a framework that we are comfortable with and we understand it, resolve these outstanding cases that are old, then I think we can go and attack the steel and aluminum,” Secretary Lutnick said.

📲 EU TRIES TO CONTINUE CRUSADE AGAINST AMERICAN TECH

Late last week, the EU confirmed that they are examining whether Apple Maps and Apple Ads should also be subject to the DMA’s gatekeeper designation, a move which would impose the same onerous mandates on these services which American tech companies have struggled to grapple with over the past three years.

Apple argues the DMA’s “gatekeeper” rules shouldn’t apply because they don’t collect the kind of data which the DMA is charged with policing. Perhaps even more important is the detrimental impact this would have on Apple Maps’ functionality for Europeans.

Even without a gatekeeper designation, a survey of 5,000 Europeans earlier this year found the DMA’s regulations caused a widely-felt decline in the quality services. If Brussels does decide to proceed with this designation, therefore, it will not only further degrade map services quality, but it will also undermine users’ privacy and delay rollouts for new features.

Targeting American innovators hasn’t fixed Europe’s competitiveness problem, nor should Brussels expect it to. If the EU wants to close the economic gap between themselves and the US, they must rethink their approach.