US threatens countermeasures on European service providers after EU fines

Rewrites and adds more background to paragraphs 1 to 6, adds European Commission statement in paragraphs 7 to 9

WASHINGTON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration warned on Tuesday the United States could impose fees or restrictions on European service providers in response to what it called “discriminatory” actions against U.S. firms.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, in a post on X, accused the European Union and some of its member states of "discriminatory and harassing lawsuits, taxes, fines and directives against U.S. service providers," while arguing EU companies, such as Accenture ACN.N, DHL DHLn.DE, Siemens SIEGn.DE, Spotify SPOT.N and others "operate freely" in the United States.

"If the EU and EU Member States insist on continuing to restrict, limit, and deter the competitiveness of U.S. service providers through discriminatory means, the United States will have no choice but to begin using every tool at its disposal to counter these unreasonable measures," the USTR wrote.

It added that U.S. law permits the assessment of fees or restrictions on foreign services “among other actions,” pointing to other EU service providers Amadeus AMA.MC, Capgemini CAPP.PA, Mistral, Publicis PUBP.PA and SAP.

The threat comes as Europe is forging ahead with a crackdown on Big Tech companies, with regulators imposing a fine of 120 million euros ($140 million) on Elon Musk's X social media platform earlier in December just months after hitting Google with an unexpectedly high 2.95 billion euro ($3.44 billion) charge.

The U.S. government has taken aim against EU digital legislation, linking reductions in U.S. steel import tariffs to weaker EU digital rules and ordering its diplomats to launch a lobbying blitz against the laws.

The European Commission pushed back against the USTR's accusations, saying its rules “apply equally and fairly to all companies operating in the EU.”

Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said in a statement that the bloc’s regulations are designed to ensure “a safe, fair and level playing field in the EU, in line with the expectations of our citizens,” and stressed that enforcement is carried out “without discrimination.”

Regnier added that the EU is “implementing the commitments in the EU-U.S. Joint Statement” and remains engaged with Washington on trade issues.

(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones and Inti Landauro; writing by Susan Heavey; editing by Costas Pitas and Lincoln Feast)

((sheavey@thomsonreuters.com; +1-202-898-8300;))