The Washington Effect: Will the Brussels Bureaucracy Bend?
Much has been said about the so-called “Brussels Effect”—that is, the European Union’s animating conceit that its mission is to make rules for the entire world. Without irony, the EU has embraced the meme that others innovate, while the EU regulates.
Recent shifts in U.S. trade policy have introduced the threat of tariffs against jurisdictions that adopt such far-reaching regulatory regimes to target U.S. firms, particularly the tech giants, in what we might call the “Washington Effect.”
The just-announced trade deal between the United States and the European Union, however, reveals a more complex picture. While the EU agreed to abandon network fees as a part of the agreement, it is officially signaling defiance on its core digital regulations.
This raises a fundamental question: can the Washington Effect truly succeed when EU bureaucrats’ identity depends on maintaining their regulatory empire? Or would even limited success demonstrate that external pressure is the only force capable of breaking the cozy relationships between EU officials and entrenched interests that harm Europeans as consumers, workers, and innovators?