In a social media post, the US Trade Representative’s (USTR) office criticised the European Union and certain member states for their “continuing course of discriminatory and harassing lawsuits, taxes, fines, and directives” against US service providers.
It warned that if the bloc and its members pressed on with moves deemed to deter the competitiveness of US companies, Washington “will have no choice but to begin using every tool at its disposal to counter these unreasonable measures.”
The post also signalled that key European businesses could be targeted in response, listing Accenture, DHL, Mistral, Siemens and Spotify among others.
“Should responsive measures be necessary, US law permits the assessment of fees or restrictions on foreign services, among other actions,” the USTR said.
It added that Washington will take a similar approach to other countries that pursue an “EU-style strategy in this area.”
President Donald Trump has previously lashed out at the EU over its regulation of US tech firms, and the USTR’s statement marks a further attempt to exert pressure on Brussels.
Trump threatened retaliatory tariffs in September after the bloc slapped Google with a US$3.47 billion antitrust fine.
Earlier this month, the US leader also criticised a “nasty” US$140 million fine by the European Union against tech tycoon Elon Musk’s X social network. He warned that “Europe has to be very careful.”
Tensions will likely continue to simmer, with Google, Microsoft and Amazon also recently facing further scrutiny by authorities in Brussels.
On Tuesday, the USTR post argued that American companies have provided “substantial free services” to EU citizens and “reliable enterprise services” to companies.
It also said that EU service providers, in turn, had been able to “operate freely” in the United States.
Trump’s pushback against countries that he says are targeting US tech firms has prompted some changes elsewhere.
In June, Canada said it would rescind its digital services tax – which would have hit US tech giants – after Trump said he was ending trade talks with Ottawa.