Newly discovered emails reveal how Google and Amazon used their access to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to try to undermine foreign regulations, including efforts to protect traditional media.
In May 2023, Google tried to bring USTR into the fight to defeat or at least relax Canada's Online News Act, which came into force last December. The law requires Google and Meta, Facebook's parent company, to pay publishers for the right to display their content on the Internet. In response, Meta left Canada.
This month, Google's head of trade policy, Nicholas Bramble, emailed three USTR staffers – senior director of services and digital commerce Andrea Boron, deputy deputy trade representative Robb Tanner and director for Canada Randall Oliver – requesting a meeting about “upcoming events in Canada.
Emails show that USTR granted the request for a meeting, which took place just four business days later. On June 5, USTR's Boron thanked Google employees for their time and asked them to share “Google public comments” that detailed reservations and concerns about the Online Messaging Act.
In response, Bramble provided links to a “list of key concerns and proposed fixes” that Google provided to Canadian lawmakers.
The private email exchange offers a glimpse into what the group describes as a “shadow war” waged by Big Tech companies to “hijack U.S. trade policy” to their advantage – in part by maintaining a revolving door relationship with a key federal agency Demand W The nonprofit Progress said in an emailed report.
The Canadian documents included a transcript of public testimony in which Google's vice president of news, Richard Gringas, warned that the company would “reconsider” offering news content in Canada if the law goes into effect. Google also offered an opinion piece to the Financial Times. who advocated “other, less confrontational solutions.”
The messages were part of a series of emails between Google and Amazon executives and USTR officials exchanged between May 2023 and April 2024. They were obtained through a request from Demand Progress under the Freedom of Information Act and shared exclusively with The Post.
“We cannot allow giant corporations to take control of the government, bypass the Senate-confirmed U.S. Trade Representative, and replace policy priorities that serve all of us with new ones that serve no one but themselves and their shareholders,” the group added.
In an email last September, Google-owned Bramble contacted USTR asking if the company could provide a “quick update” on Canadian legislation. A day later, USTR's Boron responded that she wanted to schedule a telephone interview and stated that she was “very interested in getting an update from you.”
After fighting fiercely to weaken or kill the bill, and even threatening to pull news content entirely, Google finally struck a last-minute deal with Canada last November and agreed to pay the media $74 million.
Google made a concession by securing the right to negotiate with a consortium of local news outlets rather than each of them individually. Google's chief legal officer, Kent Walker, prevailed and said he was “pleased that the Government of Canada has committed to solving our key issues.”
Asked about the emails, Google spokesman José Castañeda said in a statement: “We regularly engage with government officials on a range of issues, especially those that may harm American consumers and businesses.”
Castañeda added: “We have both publicly and privately shared our concerns about foreign government policies that harm American businesses, and we will continue to do so.”
A USTR spokesman said the work of agency chief Katherine Tai and her team “over the past 3.5 years demonstrates an unwavering commitment to workers and the fight for their rights.”
“The Biden-Harris administration's trade agenda was specifically designed to give workers a seat at the table when they have been left out for decades,” the spokesperson added.
Watchdogs warn that Big Tech is using its influence over USTR and other federal agencies to help shape a lax regulatory policy model, both in the U.S. and abroad, that protects its interests at the expense of smaller competitors.
Critics say the efforts could undermine any future efforts by Congress or individual states to pass antitrust laws.
“American businesses are not monolithic, and USTR often must choose between supporting the interests of U.S. monopolies and supporting the interests of smaller companies and consumers,” said Dan Geldon, former chief of staff to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
Elsewhere in August 2023, USTR's Danielle Fumagalli emailed Amazon and Google employees asking for their views on a proposal in Japan to help domestic cloud computing companies compete for government contracts and explained, “ how problematic this change would be for you.”
Fumagalli's email to Amazon was likely addressed to Mary Thornton, who was then head of trade and export control policy at the e-commerce giant's cloud unit. Thornton worked as a director at USTR before joining Amazon.
The cozy ties between Amazon and the federal agency were also on display during a May 2023 exchange.
USTR's Boron sent a direct email to Amazon's head of U.S. trade policy, Kate Kalutkiewicz, asking for an interview before the agency's meeting with Brazilian telecommunications regulator ANATEL.
Before joining Amazon, Kalutkiewicz previously served as USTR's director for Brazil.
At the time, ANATEL was considering regulations that would impact Amazon and other Big Tech platforms.
“It would be helpful if you had something to share,” Boron wrote.
When reached for comment, an Amazon spokesperson said that “like many other U.S. companies making significant domestic investments and creating jobs, we stand on issues important to our customers and sellers, and that includes keeping open lines of communication with officials in all countries.” levels of government.”
Emily Peterson-Cassin, director of corporate power at Demand Progress, said the news shows Google and other Big Tech companies have a level of access to the U.S. Trade Representative's office that other policy advocates simply do not have.
“Their job is to work for the public good,” Peterson-Cassin said. “It's not their job to work for the good of Big Tech.”
Although their names do not appear in the email threads, Google currently employs several high-level policy staffers who previously worked for the U.S. Trade Representative.
For example, Karan Bhatia was deputy U.S. Trade Representative from 2005 to 2007 and then became Google's head of public policy and government relations in 2018.
Last November, Insider reported that Bhatia's name appeared frequently in a separate batch of emails between Google and USTR – including messages related to the Online Messaging Act.
The situation caught the attention of Congress.
In an April 2023 letter to Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, a group of Democratic lawmakers sharply criticized efforts by “tech industry groups” to kill the Internet Messaging Act by labeling it “illegal trade discrimination” during international trade agreement negotiations called the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity.
According to Peterson-Cassin, Tai has been trying to counter this dynamic and since taking over as U.S. trade representative in 2021, he has been “standing up to the forces that try to skew trade policy in favor of big business.”
“This is exactly the kind of leadership we need to move forward,” Peterson-Cassin added.
Google and Amazon already trying to avoid regulatory crackdowns could upend their business models on many fronts. Both companies have faced unprecedented antitrust scrutiny in the U.S. and abroad over their alleged efforts to strangle rivals, as well as legislative actions in various countries aimed at curbing their dominance.
That's what a federal judge ruled in August: Google has an illegal monopoly on Internet searches.
In a separate Justice Department case challenging Google's dominance over digital advertising, closing arguments are scheduled for November.
Elsewhere, the Federal Trade Commission is suing Amazon.
