US seeks further changes to EU due diligence law: ambassador

The US remains critical of measures in the EU's major due diligence regulation that cover companies outside the EU, the US Ambassador to the EU said Aug. 14, despite a recent push from Brussels to simplify the law.

"Extraterritorial provisions harm American businesses and workers, but it is not just the US that will suffer," Ambassador Andrew Puzder wrote in a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

"Unless the EU changes course, these directives will burden EU and non-EU businesses of all sizes -- and European consumers are the ones who will ultimately foot the bill," he said.

The US has previously said the EU's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive could impact "long-term energy partnerships" with EU member states. Since then, the EU concluded a year-long push to simplify the law.

The changes, which won final approval from the EU Council in February, narrowed the application to non-EU companies with a net annual turnover of more than €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) in the EU.

Among other changes, EU lawmakers removed an obligation on companies to prepare climate transition plans, lowered the cap on maximum penalties, and pushed the compliance deadline back from July 2027 to July 2029.

Continued contention

Puzder's post signaled the US's continued contentions with the law.

The ambassador included a link to the US government's formal comments on the EU's CSDDD guidelines. The US said in the comments that the recent simplification push covering the CSDDD and another law, the corporate sustainability reporting directive, were "positive" but did not fully address its concerns.

"The directives' extraterritorial reach and costly and onerous supply chain due diligence obligations will adversely impact the ability of US businesses to compete on a level playing field in the EU market," it said.

The government argued that the regulation risks "unduly" burdening US companies. Among its requests, it urged the EU and member states to limit the application to EU subsidiaries of US businesses or the EU business partners of US firms.

It also called for the EU and its member states to prohibit fines on US businesses or their EU subsidiaries based on revenue generated outside the EU. The CSDDD allows for fines up to 3% of a company's net global turnover.

A spokesperson for the European Commission told Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, on Aug. 14, "On non-tariff-related issues, the EU has invested considerable efforts in explaining its rules and highlighting its willingness to cooperate with the US to increase trade where possible, in full respect of its legislative and regulatory framework. We have been very clear and consistent on the fact that neither our rules framework nor our regulatory autonomy are up for negotiation."

The US is the EU's largest LNG supplier. It has shipped about 37.2 million metric tons to the EU so far in 2026, according to data from S&P Global Energy CERA. This represents 59% of the EU's year-to-date imports. At the same time last year, the US had supplied about 56% of the EU's imports, according to CERA.

Platts assessed the DES Northwest Europe LNG marker at $20.255/million British thermal units on Aug. 13, up 0.6% day over day.