Services at the Core: The Missing Piece of Transatlantic Trade Talks?

In August 2025, the European Union and the United States announced that they had agreed on a “Framework on an Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair, and Balanced Trade”. The Framework Agreement remains vulnerable due to unresolved conflicts over the EU’s treatment of U.S. service providers, however. This article reviews key features and recent trends in EU–U.S. services trade in general, and in digitally deliverable services in particular. To mitigate U.S.-EU conflicts, it proposes a reform of EU digital regulation, comprising three core elements: a clear institutional separation between rule-making and implementation in digital regulation; a transparent and inclusive consultation process with the aim of simplifying EU digital regulations and giving companies more flexibility in how to implement them, without compromising the regulations’ substantive aims; and establishing a political forum to support transatlantic dialogue on digital trade and regulation.

Kiel Institute Experts