Europe Meets US Tech CEOs Including Google, Meta, OpenAI and Amazon to Review AI Power and Fair Competition

Silicon Valley Braces For Europe's Antitrust Chief

The high-rise offices of San Francisco are hosting a visitor this week who carries the weight of European law.

Teresa Ribera, the EU’s antitrust chief, has landed in California to look directly into the engines of the world’s most powerful tech companies.

Her schedule is a marathon of high-stakes meetings, starting Tuesday with Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and OpenAI’s Sam Altman.

By Wednesday, she moves on to Amazon’s Andy Jassy.

This is not a social call.

It is a deep dive into the "full AI stack," from the data used to train chatbots to the massive cloud networks that keep them running.

Can Big Tech Control Every Layer Of AI

Europe is worried that a few companies are becoming too dominant by controlling every stage of the AI process.

Ribera has already launched several investigations into Google and Meta, fearing that these giants might use their platforms to push their own AI tools while locking out smaller rivals.

Because companies like OpenAI, Nvidia, Meta, and Google have spent billions on infrastructure, computing power has become a primary weapon in business.

Ribera’s week-long trip aims to determine if this concentration of power has already gone too far, potentially stifling competition before it can even begin.

Why Brussels Is Tired Of Washington's Complaints

While Ribera talks shop in San Francisco, a verbal battle is heating up between Brussels and Washington.

U.S. officials have been vocal in their distaste for the EU’s digital rulebooks, specifically the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Andrew Puzder, the U.S. Ambassador to the EU, suggested that a vote this week on a 2025 transatlantic trade deal might be a chance to ease these digital rules.

However, European lawmakers are showing zero interest in negotiating.

German lawmaker Andreas Schwab noted,

“There is a certain level of tiredness in Brussels when it comes to responding to these talking points from Washington.”

Is Digital Law A Trade Negotiation Chip

The EU insists its laws are about protecting people, not attacking American business.

Andreas Schwab clarified that the Digital Markets Act “is not an opening bid in a trade negotiation; it is a settled legal reality.”

He argued that regardless of who is delivering the message from the U.S., the script is always the same: they call European law an "attack" while ignoring that the rules were created through years of democratic debate.

Supporting this stance, Italian lawmaker Brando Benifei stated,

“I don’t see any political appetite in the European Parliament but not even in Council for scaling back our digital legislation dealing with malicious content, manipulation or unfair treatment of startups and consumers alike.”

Will The Trade Deal Survive The Digital Friction

Tensions are reaching a boiling point as the European Parliament prepares for a Thursday vote on the 2025 trade deal.

The conflict has taken on a political edge, with U.S. Democrat Jamie Raskin telling the Internal Market Committee that some attacks on EU rules are fueled by a "MAGA-aligned agenda."

Raskin claimed the Trump administration “works hard to promote the MAGA movement in Europe under the guise of defending free speech,” while simultaneously restricting it at home.

This follows a February move by the House Judiciary Committee, led by Jim Jordan, which labelled the DSA a “foreign censorship tool” and targeted nearly 30 EU officials responsible for its enforcement.