Tech heavyweights urge Trump to target Australian media laws
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The news: Tech giants including Meta, X, Google, Apple and Amazon have lodged a formal complaint to the US trade agency, calling on the Trump administration to target Australia’s “coercive and discriminatory” media laws.
The context: Pursuant to Trump’s America First Trade Policy the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is accepting comments to review and identify unfair trade practices and potential harm caused by non-reciprocal trade arrangements.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) is one of hundreds of US companies that have filed submissions, with the Association directly calling out Australia’s media laws and the cost of digital trade barriers for US suppliers.
Submitted on the 11 March, the CCIA’s formal complaint calls out Australia’s News Media Bargaining Incentive, saying that the incentive is a “key example” of discriminatory taxation of digital products and services toward US companies. The CCIA writes: “Australia’s extraction and redistribution of revenue from U.S. digital suppliers to local news businesses is reported to have cost U.S. firms USD140 million ($222.6 million) annually”.
The Incentive was created by the government to replace the News Media Bargaining Code which raised around $250 million annually to fund Australian content, Meta pulled out of the code, while Google has continued to pay.
The submission argues: “Currently, the two companies targeted by the law pay $AU250 million annually through deals that were coerced through the threat of this law. However, with the threat of the new ‘incentive’ tax from the Australian government (rate yet to be determined), this cost is likely to significantly increase.”
The submission also raises Australia’s proposed requirements for US online video providers to fund the development and production of Australian content. Companies could be required to pay anywhere between 10% and 20% of their local expenditure on Australian content.
If the Australian government pursues the 20% expenditure mandate it has floated in the past year, the submission warns, that would put USD2.3 billion of annual revenue for the US video market at risk.
The CCIA also warned that “the proliferation of AI laws and regulations that could adversely affect investment in or the cross-border supply of AI-enabled services and technologies.” The group singled out the Australian government’s plan to classify all general-purpose AI models as high-risk, adding "significant compliance burdens" to US companies with AI product and services operating in Australia.
First reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, the CCIA does not call on the Trump administration to impose retaliatory tariffs, rather, the “removal of the barriers” as the imposition of “targeted, reciprocal measures…invariably incurs costs and unintended consequences, including raising costs of inputs for both domestic manufacturing, services, and corresponding exports.”
The sources: CCIA submission, Sydney Morning Herald
