American technology companies are some of the most trusted and innovative businesses in the world, providing innovative products and services to billions of customers worldwide. From AI to cutting-edge cloud computing, leading U.S. tech companies drive U.S. innovation and help power the American economy.
That success has been built on a regulatory environment that rewards risk-taking and innovation, and gives companies the flexibility to compete and evolve. This system has made the United States a global technological leader and the world’s hub for digital innovation. Despite these strengths, some U.S. lawmakers, regulators, and advocacy groups are increasingly calling for policies that would place heavy-handed restrictions on leading American businesses that risk hurting consumers, harming U.S. economic interests, and disincentivizing innovation.
These proposals include legislative efforts, like the App Store Freedom Act (ASFA) and Open App Markets Act (OAMA), to mimic regulations from foreign nations, such as the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). These bills propose policies that have led to fragmented markets, degraded product quality, and resulted in shrinking investment in emerging technologies.
Under the previous administration, antitrust regulators in the U.S. moved away from well-established antitrust theories of harm designed to promote consumer welfare and encourage market dynamism. Instead, antitrust enforcers sought to bring cases based on unproven theories that punish success, leaving Americans worse off and disincentivizing innovation.
Rather than importing regulatory models from abroad or relying on untested theories of harm, U.S. policymakers should focus on strengthening what has worked at home. This includes targeted, flexible policies that foster innovation, protect consumers, and reduce anticompetitive regulatory barriers, creating space for new market entrants to thrive. To date, this approach has built a digital economy that accounts for 10% of U.S. GDP and supports more than 3 million American jobs. It is the reason that America is the global leader in technology and why top tech companies and thousands of startups are developing next-generation tools AI, biotech, and advanced manufacturing tools in the U.S.
At a time when the global economy is becoming more competitive, and when other nations are aggressively investing in their own tech sectors, the United States can’t afford to kneecap its most dynamic industries. Existing U.S. laws and regulations that encourage competition and innovation benefit consumers, workers, and the economy at large. Policymakers shouldn’t jeopardize America’s success with burdensome regulatory experiments modeled after foreign frameworks that are already showing signs of failure.