WATCH THE VIDEO HERE U.S. President Donald Trump is mounting pressure on the European Union to back down from its upcoming artificial intelligence (AI) code of practice, which seeks to tighten the rules around transparency, risk management, and copyright compliance for advanced AI systems. According to a Bloomberg report citing sources familiar with the matter, the U.S. Mission to the EU sent a letter to the European Commission and several European governments, objecting to the current draft of the voluntary rulebook. While not legally binding, the code is designed to help companies align with the EU’s AI Act, which carries penalties of up to 7% of a company’s global annual turnover for violations. Critics, however, argue the new guidelines go beyond the original law and place excessive burdens on developers. This latest move brought to fore the growing tensions between the U.S. and the EU over digital regulation. Trump, who has consistently railed against the EU’s tech policies, has described them as a form of “economic taxation” on American companies. In January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he accused the bloc of unfairly targeting U.S. firms. The draft code being finalized by a mix of tech firms, civil society groups, and copyright holders is expected to be unveiled next month. In response, Apple accused the European Commission of unfair treatment. “These decisions are bad for the privacy and security of our users, bad for products, and force us to give away our technology for free,” Apple said.
Trump pushes back against Europe’s new AI rules as trade tensions rise
