French President Emmanuel Macron warns the US is breaking from international rules and allies, urging Europe to protect its interests and defend its tech regulations.
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron has accused the United States of breaking from international rules and turning away from its allies.
Macron delivered the warning in his annual speech to French ambassadors at the Elysee Palace on Thursday.
He said Europe must protect its interests amid a shifting global landscape.
“The United States is an established power, but one that is gradually turning away from some of its allies and breaking free from international rules that it was still promoting recently,” Macron told the diplomats.
He added that multilateral institutions are functioning less effectively.
Macron said the world is now dominated by great powers with a “real temptation to divide up the world”.
He urged the consolidation of European regulation of the tech sector.
Macron stressed the importance of safeguarding academic independence and a controlled digital information space.
He hailed the possibility of having a space “where opinions can be exchanged completely freely, but where choices are not made by the algorithms of a few”.
The European Union has adopted the Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act to rein in tech giants.
Washington has denounced the rules as an attempt to coerce American platforms into censoring opposing viewpoints.
“The DSA and DMA are two regulations that must be defended,” Macron said.
His speech comes as European powers scramble to coordinate a response to assertive US foreign policy.
This follows Washington’s capture of Venezuela’s leader and former President Donald Trump’s designs on Greenland.