At Paris AI Summit, J.D. Vance Dumps the Crème Fraîche for Steak Tatare

February 11, 2025

J.D. Vance did his audience a favor by delivering a blunt message bluntly. At the AI summit meeting in Paris of European and Asian leaders, the vice president told Europeans to back off regulating artificial intelligence before it can be developed and properly understood.

“We need our European friends in particular to look to this new frontier with optimism rather than trepidation,” Vice President Vance said. He warned that overly aggressive and premature regulation by Europe would only hand an advantage to those – think of a big country that begins with a “C” – who are more than willing to sign lofty pledges only to abide by no rules whatsoever.

This is a big story, a sign that the Trump Administration is not willing sit back while Europe sanctions one competitive American industry after another. This speech was also interesting from an international antitrust perspective. The vice president’s remarks came close to this topic.

“Many of our most productive tech companies are forced to deal with the EU’s Digital Services Act and the massive regulations it created about taking down content and policing so-called misinformation,” Vance said. “And, of course, we want to ensure the internet is a safe place. But it is one thing to prevent a predator from preying on a child on the internet, and it is something quite different to prevent a grown man or woman from accessing an opinion that the government thinks is misinformation.”

Vance’s words convey a sense that President Trump is also likely fed up with the multiple prosecutions and gargantuan fines the EU has placed on America’s most competitive firms under the Digital Markets Act, as well as the Digital Services Act. Seen from that perspective, the Vice President’s speech was a firebreak, saying in essence – don’t do to AI what you’re doing now to American technology companies.

The next step? I would love to see President Trump give a similar speech in Brussels, blowing the roof off as only he can do. Donald Trump should face the Europeans to make a strong stand against their aggressive, protectionist antitrust policies.