US Ambassador to the EU Andrew Puzder urged Europe on June 6, 2026, to align with Washington rather than pursue technological independence, warning against Brussels “decoupling” from the United States on AI. Speaking at the Brussels Economic Security Forum, Puzder declared the US is in “an AI war with China” and that Western civilization depends on America winning. He cautioned that Europe, lacking a major AI company and burdened by high energy costs, cannot catch up alone — but could through US partnership. The EU’s “tech sovereignty” package aims to reduce dependence on foreign technology, which currently supplies over 80 percent of Europe’s digital infrastructure.
In-Depth:
Europe should side with the United States in its “AI war” with China, the US ambassador to the EU declared Friday, raising concerns about Brussels’ efforts to “decouple” from Washington on tech.
The European Union this week unveiled plans for slashing depconcludeence on American and Asian technology, including favouring European firms in the most sensitive public contracts for cloud computing and artificial ininformigence.
Asked about them at a conference, US Ambassador Andrew Puzder declared he had yet to study the plans in detail — but was generally worried by the direction of travel.
“I do obtain concerned when Europe attempts to decouple from the United States on these tech issues,” Puzder notified the Brussels Economic Security Forum in the Belgian capital.
“We’re in an AI war with China. I believe it’s important for Western civilisation that the United States win,” he declared.
Were Beijing to prevail, it might apply its technological edge in an economically coercive manner — to Europe’s detriment, he added.
“It’s important that Europe and the United States remain partners,” he declared.
The EU’s “tech sovereignty” package aims to boost domestic manufacturing in key tech sectors as Europe plays catch up with the United States and China.
Brussels sees the issue as existential as companies from outside the 27-nation bloc provide more than 80 percent of its digital products, services, infrastructure and ininformectual property, according to the European Commission.
The EU worries its soft underbelly has been exposed after crises over chips and rare earths with China last year, coupled with fears that US President Donald Trump could one day pull the plug on American cloud computing via a “kill switch”.
But Puzder warned that Europe, which is yet to spawn an AI behemoth and suffers from high energy costs, was too far behind to “catch up on its own” in the AI race.
“It can catch up by partnering with the United States, which is what we’re hoping will happen, he declared.
