Washington and Brussels Unite Alliance of Democracies to Tackle New Technologies: Trade and Technology Council 2023

Washington and Brussels want to unite an alliance of democracies in the face of these new technologies.

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Florentin Collomp

Posted on 05/31/2023 at 6:35 p.m.

Gathered in Sweden for the fourth edition of the Trade and Technology Council, the United States and the European Union pleaded on Wednesday for the rapid establishment of a ” code of Conduct ” volunteer on theartificial intelligence. The players in the sector would thus undertake to respect certain principles and guarantees in the development of their technologies. Such a device should see the light of day ” in a few weeks “clarified Margrethe VestagerVice-President of the European Commission, while Brussels is preparing artificial intelligence legislation and facial recognition (AI Act), which, given its legislative process, would not take effect for two to three years. ” It’s obviously much too late “, emphasizes Margrethe Vestager, with regard to “incredible acceleration”the development of these applications, such as Chat­GPTof the society OpenAIwhose promoters it calls upon ” responsibility ” .

“It is important that we see that democracies can act”, she underlines, referring to an alliance on the subject with Canada, Japan or India. US Secretary of State, Antony Blinkabounds, evoking “ the crying urgency”to meet this challenge with other countries sharing the same approach. The EU wishes to define, together with the United States, the standards imposed on this new technology.

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The Trade and Technology Council (TTC), created in 2021, brings the two powers together twice a year to coordinate their trade policies and technology standards. It was then a matter of trying to put an end to years of transatlantic friction, particularly under the era Donald Trump. Margrethe Vestager boasts of positive results, including the definition of a common standard on chargers for electric vehicles.“Our interests are aligned” , said Gina Raimondo, US Secretary of Commerce. Antony Blinken rents a «  remarkable convergence” views between the two partners.

Strong disagreements

Behind these commitments, disagreements remain sharp between Americans and Europeans, in a context of growing geopolitical tensions and renewed protectionism. If Europeans had welcomed the arrival of Joe Biden To the White House, who was full of declarations of friendship towards them, the reality remains that the slogan “America First” is more de rigueur than ever. For months, Europe has been beefing up its response to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a law adopted in August 2022 by the American Administration aimed at subsidizing, with 369 billion dollars of public money, the companies involved in the climate transition.

Behind the lines of these rivalries between Western allies is also their respective approach to China. The Americans have recently moderated their discourse on the “decoupling”economic invoked with the Beijing regime.“None of us are looking for a new cold war or decoupling, but a reduction of risk in our supply chains”,assures Antony Blinken, taking up a rhetoric ofUrsula von der LeyenPresident of the European Commission.