Germany on Friday rejected Washington’s accusations that its proposed streaming investment law breaches the newly minted EU-U.S. Turnberry trade pact, insisting it is a cultural policy tool not a digital trade barrier.
The rebuttal came a day after U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer blasted legislation approved by Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s cabinet, and said the proposal treated American companies “like a piggy bank for pet, protectionist projects.”
The draft law would require streamers and broadcasters to invest at least 8 percent of their annual German revenue into German and European film and television production, or face financial penalties.
Speaking to reporters in Berlin, government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius dismissed Greer’s warning that if implemented the proposal “would be at odds with the Turnberry Agreement.” Germany remains committed to “very close and constructive trade relations” with the U.S., Kornelius said. He also maintained the proposed obligations fall squarely within accepted cultural policy rules.
“It is agreed that no unjustified digital trade barriers will be erected. And we are adhering to that,” the spokesperson said, adding that the investment obligations “do not constitute market access barriers” and that the funds would flow directly into productions that streamers themselves can exploit commercially. “This is therefore not a levy or a tax.”
Kornelius also pointed to existing precedents, describing Germany’s proposal as “very moderate by European standards.”
France already requires major streamers to invest at least 20 percent of local revenue into French and European productions, while Italy set its quota at 16 percent in 2024. Both operate under the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive, which allows member countries to require platforms to financially support European works, and mandates at least 30 percent of on-demand catalogs consist of European content.
The dispute comes a week after Brussels agreed to implement the transatlantic trade pact struck at U.S. President Donald Trump’s golf resort in Turnberry, Scotland last summer.
Germany is not the only country facing Washington’s scrutiny over streaming quotas either. In March, House Republicans targeted Canada’s Online Streaming Act, pressing U.S. trade officials to examine whether requirements for tech platforms to support domestic content amount to unfair trade practice.