00:00Because of this Bloomberg scoop, can you just run us through the logic or exactly what the U.S. wants?
00:07With respect to the Russian assets alone?
00:12Is that what you're asking?
00:14Yes, yes, Ambassador.
00:15Can you hear me?
00:16We understand that some U.S. officials have lobbied several countries in the EU to block EU plans to use some of these Russian frozen assets.
00:25What's behind that?
00:26The first I heard about that was when I walked into the studio this morning.
00:33I haven't been briefed on it, and I have no idea.
00:38Okay, Ambassador, do you think, is there a concern?
00:41I mean, have you heard about some of your officials' briefing, or have you had calls from EU trying to understand what the official U.S. position is?
00:49What do you think the official U.S. position is on this?
00:53Well, I don't want to speculate on what the U.S. position is.
00:56And, no, I haven't had calls from anybody in the EU or the administration on this issue.
01:03Again, the first I heard about this was when I walked into the Bloomberg studio this morning.
01:07So I have no idea if there's been lobbying or if there hasn't been lobbying or who would be doing it.
01:15Ambassador, talk to me then a little bit about regulation.
01:17You've spoken on regulation about the need for the EU to pull back its regulatory burden.
01:23What specifically are you referring to?
01:27Well, I'd say the two principal areas would be what's called the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive,
01:32the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, and then the Digital Marketing Act and the Digital Services Act.
01:38I think those are really contrary to the EU's best economic interests.
01:43One of them makes it very difficult for the EU to get inexpensive energy, which it desperately needs.
01:50And the other makes it difficult for it to get the cloud services and the sophisticated AI software that they need
01:56and the investment they need here on the European continent to participate in the AI economy.
02:01So as the U.S. ambassador here, of course, I'm very interested in advancing President Trump's efforts to make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.
02:14But that doesn't mean we have to leave Europe aside.
02:17We want to make America great again, but we'd like Europe to be right there with us, particularly in this AI war.
02:23And these regulations make it very difficult for Europe to participate in the AI economy.
02:31Ambassador, yesterday, I mean, we heard a post that was quite aggressive on X from the Vice President J.D. Vance
02:37on the EU Commission's plans to find X for not engaging in censorship.
02:42Again, I mean, we understand that the EU, you know, is talking about breaching transparency requirements.
02:49What's your take on this? Is it censoring or is there a way forward?
02:53Well, I will say it's somewhat of a coincidence that every company that seems to get fined with respect to these digital services
03:02or Digital Marketing Act violations is an American company.
03:07And so I have not – the X fine, the news just came out last night.
03:13I haven't had a chance to look through and see what the basis of that fine is.
03:17But I know the Vice President is very concerned about limits that are unfair against American companies,
03:26enforcement of legislation that's really against – contrary to the spirit of the free trade agreement
03:32where we're trying to eliminate non-tariff trade barriers when you're singling out American companies for regulatory action.
03:41That really is not within the spirit of that agreement.
03:43And he's also very concerned with aspects of free speech.
03:47The First Amendment is a very important right in the United States, the right to free speech, the right to free expression.
03:52And the Vice President is very concerned about violations of those rights.
03:57Yeah, I mean, I think the Commission is talking about, you know, accessing data, misleading users with potential fines
04:03that have not that decided yet.
04:05Ambassador, do you think it's targeting U.S. companies?
04:07Or is it just targeting companies that happen to be American?
04:13Well, they happen to be American because the legislation was drafted in a way that would basically cover only American companies.
04:22I think there's eight companies that are covered by this legislation.
04:26I think seven of them are American companies.
04:28And the only substantial, meaningful fines that have been imposed so far have been against American companies.
04:33So at some point, if you're an American company, you've got to sit back and say, look, am I being targeted here?
04:39Or is this an effort to try and advantage European competitors over U.S. companies?
04:45And if that's the case, it's something that the United States needs to respond to.
04:49And I believe the Vice President has been very active in that respect.
04:54Ambassador, let's also look at the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.
04:58Where do you see this going?
04:59Well, I don't know where it goes.
05:03There's two problems with it.
05:05One, the big problem is that Europe needs energy.
05:07If Europe's going to run an industrial economy, it needs inexpensive energy or reasonably priced energy.
05:13And it needs abundant energy.
05:15And if it's going to participate in an AI economy, it needs even more energy because you have these terrific energy demands that come with these large data centers.
05:24If you're going to be a participant in the AI economy, and both President von der Leyen and Professor Draghi have been very adamant that Europe needs to participate in the AI economy and the U.S. would like Europe to participate.
05:37But when you pass regulations that impose net zero mandates on oil companies, and when those mandates reach not only into the supply chain, the direct supply chains, but the indirect supply chains of companies that really have no nexus to Europe,
05:53that don't do business here, don't want to do business here, but are somehow in a supply chain of a large multinational oil company or fossil fuel company,
06:03when you make those kinds of restrictions, you make it very difficult for these producers to supply Europe with the energy that it needs.
06:10And so I think it's a regulation that just is not in Europe's best interest and is not in the best interest of making Europe a prosperous and vibrant economy.
06:21Ambassador, what about steel and aluminium?
06:23I know EU exporters, for example, are being hit by 50 percent tariffs with 400 items now being subject to this tariff rate.
06:30Is there any progress or any sign of breakthrough in this?
06:33Well, the idea with the iron-aluminum tariffs, both the United States and Europe now have 50 percent tariffs.
06:41Originally, the United States was concerned that China is dumping steel and aluminium on the market,
06:48and we wanted to make sure that these derivative products, the 407 that you mentioned,
06:53that they wouldn't contain Chinese steel or aluminium, which could get dumped in America.
06:58Now, Europe is saying that's not going to happen, that's not what they're going to do.
07:02So our Secretary of Commerce and our trade representative were here in Europe last week
07:07and made it clear if we can make some progress on these lawsuits, these regulatory actions against America's tech companies,
07:18if we can make some progress there, we can make progress on these derivative issues, too.
07:22So I think both sides are talking, both sides are negotiating, and I think eventually this will get resolved.
07:28I just don't think it's been resolved yet.
07:30Ambassador, I just wanted to go back to Ukraine, because today is a very, very crucial day for the EU's plan
07:37to tap these immobilized Russian assets to help Ukraine.
07:41What do you understand the U.S. position to be today?
07:46Look, this is a European issue.
07:50This is something that Europe is trying to deal with.
07:52If you want to know where the United States stands on it, you'll have to talk to Ambassador Witkoff or Secretary Rubio or Jared Kirshner,
08:03who are very involved in these negotiations.
08:05I don't want to comment on this area and have some impact on negotiations I'm not involved in.
08:11And so it's really difficult for me to comment on it.
08:15I understand we're just, you know, if the U.S. were to call European countries to try and tell them, like, look, this is not the right way,
08:24do you think there's a danger that the U.S. is trying to force Ukrainians to capitulate to Russia?
08:30Is this how you would see it?
08:31Well, I'm not going to comment on a hypothetical.
08:35I'm certainly not going to give my opinion on an issue where I could actually have an impact on negotiations that I'm not involved in.
08:43That's just not something I would do.
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