Tech regulation could be the next point of contention between the new U.S. administration and the EU.
Michael McGrath, the European Union’s justice commissioner, will visit Washington D.C. this week, the first senior EU official to visit after the United States imposed steel tariffs that will hit European industry.
McGrath’s visit on March 13 and 14 comes a day after the European Commission promised to retaliate against the U.S. move by slapping charges on some €26 billion of U.S exports.
The Irishman will join a Thursday event at the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) to talk about EU tech regulation and the “EU-US digital relations at the current time.”
His visit will follow his former boss, Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, who met with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday as part of a tradition where the Irish leader hands over a bowl of shamrock to mark St Patrick’s Day, which is on March 17. Martin was the first European leader to meet Trump since his infamous Oval Office interview with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
McGrath’s advisers confirmed that he is in Washington for two days. He also has meetings with businesses scheduled.
McGrath’s current boss, Commission Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen, previously canceled a planned trip to Washington this week where she had tried to arrange a meeting with Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Apple’s Tim Cook.
The EU’s tech rules have become a transatlantic sore point with Trump joining tech chief executives in complaining about EU enforcement, even threatening tariffs in a Feb. 21 memorandum on “defending American companies and innovators from overseas extortion and unfair fines.”
The European Commission has deadlines this month to wrap up digital competition probes into Apple, Meta and Google that could result in fines.
This article has been updated.
