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Europe’s antitrust policy shouldn’t ignore China 



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Carisa Nietsche
Contributor

Carisa Nietsche is an associate fellow for the Transatlantic Security Program at the Center for a New American Security.

The TechCrunch Global Affairs Project examines the increasingly intertwined relationship between the tech sector and global politics.
Europe has a well-earned reputation for regulating Big Tech, taking the lead on privacy, data protection and especially competition. Now, new antitrust legislation that introduces criteria to identify large online “gatekeepers” is winding its way through the European Parliament. But while the Digital Markets Act is expected to target a number of U.S. tech companies, if used strategically the DMA — and European antitrust and competition policy writ large — can also be a tool to compete with China.
In the past few years, Europe has slowly awakened to China’s challenge to transatlantic technology leadership. Although many Europeans are slowly converging on Washington’s threat perceptions, Europe still lacks the tools and political will to address challenges emanating from Beijing’s juggernauts.
While transatlantic policy responses to China should be aligned, they need not be the same. The United States and Europe should leverage their respective strengths and toolboxes to combat China’s market distorting practices in the technology sphere. And Euro …

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