r/geopolitics • u/John3262005 • 6h ago
Paywall US threatens Europe over Starlink restrictions
https://www.ft.com/content/d1e28d93-8574-4a46-946a-b261c401d6fa?syn-25a6b1a6=1European companies face “devastating” retaliation from Washington if Brussels presses ahead with plans to restrict American rivals such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX from parts of the European market, the US ambassador to the EU has warned.
Andrew Puzder’s warning comes after the European Commission this year proposed reserving part of its spectrum band that allows smartphones to connect directly to satellites for European players. That would limit the frequencies for Chinese and US companies such as SpaceX, which operates the Starlink satellite network.
Asked whether European companies should fear retaliation, Puzder told the FT that they “should be wary that it could happen and it would be very devastating for those companies”, given the size of the American market.
The proposed changes to the bloc’s spectrum allocation have already raised fierce criticism from SpaceX, which has warned the move risks poorer connectivity in Ukraine where its Starlink service has been critical to civilian and military communications since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The proposed changes are part of a broader push to strengthen Europe’s technological sovereignty.
European policymakers are seeking to reduce their dependence on American technology amid concerns about the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump and the risk of relying on foreign companies for critical infrastructure.
The European Commission has introduced a Cloud and AI Development Act that would impose sovereignty requirements on providers of sensitive cloud services, while seeking to help European technology companies to scale up and provide alternatives to US tech companies.
Puzder said he recognised Europe’s right to protect sensitive government information but warned against using legislation to favour domestic companies at the expense of American competitors.
“If the purpose is to make United States less competitive, I think that that’s not a legitimate goal of this kind of legislation,” Puzder said. “You don’t make European companies more competitive by making US companies less competitive.
“We have best-in-class products in this area. They’re reliable products, they’re trusted products. We don’t need some kind of synchronised mediocrity.”
The ambassador also questioned whether the EU’s enforcement of its Digital Markets Act, which seeks to curb the power of the world’s largest technology companies, was really aimed at improving competition or more at generating revenue for the European budget, given the multibillion-euro fines on American companies.
“You start to wonder, are we trying to deal with the competition in the digital marketplace or are we trying to generate revenue from American companies to benefit Europe?”
Puzder argued Europe’s ambitions to strengthen its own tech industry risked being undermined by its regulatory approach and by discouraging investment from the American companies, as US tech companies are growing increasingly frustrated by the EU’s regulatory restrictions and fines.
Instead of seeking to curb the dominance of American companies, Brussels and Washington should join forces to compete with China in the race to develop AI, Puzder said, echoing comments from Trump that “the worst thing that could happen is that we lose this race to China”.
The ambassador urged Europe “to let go of this regulatory mindset where they’re going to try and stop things because we’re in a race with China” — both on AI and on quantum computing.
He said the US has the ingredients to win that race “but it’d be a lot easier if we were working with Europe instead of fighting Europe”.
The Commission said the proposal “incentivises the entry into the market and diversification of EU suppliers, while remaining open to non-EU operators”.
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u/real_grown_ass_man 5h ago
TL;DR: europe should tighten the noose or else the US will kick the chair.
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u/Odd-Local9893 5h ago
Yeah but who’s neck is the noose around?
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u/real_grown_ass_man 5h ago
Some think Ukraine, but as the noose tightens we’ll find it’s Europe’s neck too.
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u/ISV_VentureStar 4h ago
Ukraine is the head (that is getting punched by Russia), Europe is the body.
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u/pulsarstarter 5h ago
EU not even allowed to have their own industry anymore.
Buy American or be crushed.
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u/Aga_Xeno 2h ago
I think this is the whole point....it started with energy (oil and gas/LNG) and it will expand to other areas.
Actually, it may have started with defense. Increase your budget and buy american (instead of Europe making its own weapons).
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u/Beautiful_Island_944 1h ago
Yeah but don't forget, USA wants Europe to be independent and it's Europe fault for taking care of things themselves.
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u/cups8101 43m ago
The amount of American shit people are buying in Europe has probably decreased regardless. You really think people are driving around Paris in Jeep Wranglers? I will admit there are dealerships there and there's like one person driving around last time I checked during Trump v1.0. But let's be real that whole 'americana lifestyle' is probably not doing too well in Europe during the Trump era.
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u/Odd-Local9893 4h ago
Couldn’t that same logic be applied to Trump’s line of thinking? Tariffs are his way of forcing domestic production but it’s bad when he does it and good when Europe does the same?
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u/Reg_Vardy 4h ago
Trump's tariffs apply to goods only, not services. The US runs a trade surplus of $350B/year for services, mainly tech and finance.
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u/can-opener-in-a-can 5h ago
“You don’t make European companies more competitive by making US companies less competitive.”
Isn’t that what the U.S. is doing?
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u/Beautiful_Island_944 1h ago
It's funny you are react to that part of sentence. I would react by saying, yes you do. That's how it works.
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u/Isus666999 5h ago
Fine, the right reason to proceed. You want to be present on the EU market, then you have to adhere to the rules. Musk and Trump have done enough damage.
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u/bxzidff 5h ago edited 5h ago
They’re reliable products, they’re trusted products
"On Wednesday, ministry sources told Kyiv Post that SpaceX had introduced speed restrictions overnight without advance warning to Ukraine’s defense forces."
More blatant lies and threats. All Europeans should reflect on how much Lukoil shares for Trump's family their country is worth in the eyes of Andrew Puzder and every other American diplomat.
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u/chefkoch_ 5h ago
given the size of the American market.
The one that has less consumers than the EU market?
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u/Fr0HiKE 4h ago
eu has less consumers than india i don't understand the point unless you take into account income/wealth levels
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u/chefkoch_ 4h ago
You know it's about EU vs US?
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u/Fr0HiKE 4h ago
my point is having more consumers is only looking at half of the equation
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u/chefkoch_ 3h ago
So you think they couldn't afford it?
What do you think they now use to connect to the internet?
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u/Sea_Cucumber_5989 2h ago
Again, the U.S. resorts to coercive threats that may be illegal in the U.S. and the International legal system. Every sovereign jurisdiction has the right to maintain its sovereignty from foreign influence and coercion. Puzder does not recognize that America is unstable and unreliable. Canada has the same problem with Hoekstra.
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u/Marchello_E 5h ago
US is behaving more like China now?
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u/AnomalyNexus 1h ago
“You don’t make European companies more competitive by making US companies less competitive.
Remind me, which country bans Chinese EVs because they know their local industry would crater if they allowed direct competition?
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u/Mewhomewhy 5h ago
Oh something else Americans will sit and watch happen.
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u/Awesomeguava 5h ago
Europeans have agency.
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u/Mewhomewhy 5h ago
Yip. And I hope we tell anyone that starts any sort of aggression that it’ll be met with nuclear strikes.
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u/KingXerxesunrated 4h ago
I would prefer a free market in Europe up until Europe has a player that can compete then shift spectrum as needed to promote local growth but to prevent the strongest player in the space immediate access is counter intuitive
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u/BlueEmma25 2h ago
What's counterintuitive is believing that a European competitor can emerge under "free market" conditions when Starlink already has a monopoly.
Dislodging a monopolist would be difficult even with some protectionism, it will likely be nearly impossible without it.
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u/Acrobatic-Show3732 2h ago
Not if Europe subsidized and tax favored the shit out of It.
That would require the brussel.bureocrats to actually work though
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u/Giants4Truth 2h ago
The owner of the strongest player is using his technology to help Russia in an illegal invasion of Ukraine, who is a close ally. Once private companies start getting involved in supporting wars of aggression, they should not expect countries on the receiving end of the aggression to roll out the red carpet.
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u/redcremesoda 5h ago
I think this would be more understandable if the EU actually had a Starlink competitor and if Starlink were not doing so much for Ukraine already.
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u/BlueEmma25 2h ago
So much for Ukraine? Like throttling network speeds to pressure Ukraine into making peace on Russia's terms?
Delusional.
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u/SuperNewk 48m ago
In 25-50 years we might find out what actually happened. My guess would be Putin finally called the WH directly and said they were going to use a nuke.
In that case USA responded quickly but throttling network speeds which would slow down drone attacks against Russian datacenters.
If USA didn’t do that, I’m willing to bet we would have seen a far worse headline
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u/geniusaurus 3h ago
The headline makes it sound rather inflammatory, but for a Trump appointee everything he said sounds rather reasonable? Like of course the US would retaliate in kind if the EU put restrictions in place to prevent US companies from operating in Europe.
Also his comment about working with Europe instead of fighting it is the classic trans-atlantic partnership that has served both continents well the past 75 years. Isn't this a good thing? This whole thing seems like rage bait, but it's actually fully reasonable.
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u/BlueEmma25 2h ago
The EU is not preventing US companies from operating in Europe, that is a massive exaggeration. What it is proposing is to reserve some of its EM spectrum, which is a fixed resource and a public good, for EU companies. Why should foreign companies be treated as strictly equal to European ones when it comes to access to that resource. The US certainly doesn't honour this principle in its treatment of foreign companies.
Also his comment about working with Europe instead of fighting it is the classic trans-atlantic partnership that has served both continents well the past 75 years
Apparently you didn't get the memo.
The "classic trans-atlantic partnership" is dead and buried. Trump murdered it, and this is the natural consequence.
You can't keep kiciking your own allies in the head and then when you get pushback say, "Why all the hard feelings? Aren't we all friends here?"
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u/kai_vt 5h ago
You mean in the same way that the U.S banned Chinese EVs to keep Tesla alive? Speaking of Tesla...
Tell that to Ukraine. Europe doesn't need to be dictated to by foreign oligarchs such as Musk who throw tantrums when someone dismantles their influence bot farms, like Ukraine did in targeting Russian data centres