US Republican Congressman Jim Jordan wrote a letter on 23 February seen by Euractiv to competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera to clarify the antitrust rules of the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Jordan, head of the US House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee had previously written to tech Commissioner Henna Virkkunen on 31 January accusing the EU’s content moderation law, the Digital Services Act (DSA) of censoring free speech.

In this new letter, Jordan expresses concern that the DMA may target American companies. Six of the seven companies designated for higher antitrust scrutiny, termed gatekeepers, are American.

The document states that two MEPs, German Andreas Schwab (EPP) and Czech Dita Charanzová (Renew) were in favour of “only” targeting US companies.

Jordan uses this to suggest that the EU has a secret goal “to remedy Europe’s economic downturn by weaponising the DMA against American companies.”

He also criticised the fact that violations of the DMA can result in fines of up to 10% of a company’s global annual turnover.

The European Commission has consistently presented the Digital Markets Act (DMA) as a set of competition rules designed to enable the EU to take swifter antitrust action against the world’s largest companies if and when they abuse their dominant position in digital markets.

By proactively regulating so-called gatekeepers, the DMA aims to complement oversight set in the EU Merger Regulation, in order to prevent anti-competitive practices before they cause irreversible harm to market competition and consumer choice.

The DMA was prompted by the 14 year-long procedures from the Google Shopping case, which was eventually fined €2.42 billion for abuse of dominant position.

Jordan has also called for a briefing with Commission staff before 10 March, because he believes the DMA harms small companies and will benefit European and Chinese companies against America.

American companies are themselves asking for more fairness, and the DMA will eventually benefit smaller US companies, Andreas Schwab MEP wrote on X in reaction to Jordan’s letter.

MEPs are in the US capital this week to discuss EU tech laws, including the DMA. However, no meetings are yet planned with the Judiciary Committee or with Jim Jordan, Schwab told Euractiv. 

At the end of last week, US President Donald Trump threatened the EU with retaliatory tarriffs should the EU impose fines on US Big Tech.

Anupriya Datta contributed to the reporting.