U-S tech companies are urging the Trump Administration to target Australia over proposed laws for social media and artificial intelligence.An organisation representing big players in the tech sector – like Meta and X – has made a submission to the United States Trade Representative… saying Australia should be pressured to remove trade barriers.It comes as Donald Trump seeks to reshape global trade with further tariffs.CreditsCarrington Clarke, ReporterImage DetailsElon Musk, US President Donald Trump and Mark Zuckerberg.Program:More fromAMTranscriptRachel Mealey:US tech companies are urging the Trump Administration to target Australia over proposed laws for social media and artificial intelligence. An organisation representing big players in the tech sector like Meta and X have made a submission to the United States Trade Representative saying Australia should be pressured to remove trade barriers. It comes as Donald Trump seeks to reshape global trade with further tariffs. North America correspondent Carrington Clarke is in Washington.Carrington Clarke:Donald Trump asked industry here in the United States to basically tell him where they were experiencing problems selling their goods or services around the world. And so the Computer and Communications Industry Association, which represents the tech sector, has made this submission to the Trade Representative here in the United States and it has attacked the policies of lots of countries. Australia is not alone. But it is interesting that they have said they have problems in Australia, particularly around these proposed laws on social media, which is asking social media companies to contribute to news in Australia to basically pay up in order for news organisations to be supported, but also artificial intelligence regulations and the local content rules for streaming media platforms, basically telling streaming media platforms that they need to have a certain percentage of their content being sourced from Australia. Now they're saying they don't want to see the Trump Administration put in place tariffs on Australia. But what they are asking is for them to pressure the Australian Government to change these regulations. They're saying they're effectively trade barriers, they're non-tariff trade barriers, and they've also recognised that sometimes the threat of tariffs might actually be advantageous in getting these regulations changed or stopping them from even coming into existence. So the Australian Government won't be happy that this has been brought to the attention. It's a longstanding policy, it should be pointed out, from the tech sector to not like these type of rules. And they are in place in places, particularly in Europe, where there's a large focus on how the European Union regulates the tech sector. But it is interesting that they have decided to open this new front on the Australian government as well.Rachel Mealey:And the European Union has announced a delay to its retaliatory tariffs.Carrington Clarke:Yeah, you might remember that the European Union said in retaliation to the Trump Administration putting that 25% tariff on aluminium and steel imports into the United States from around the world, including from Australia. The European Union said they would be hitting certain American products. And the one that seemed to draw the ire of the American president the most was on bourbon products. They were supposed to come into effect at the start of April. They were going to come in two tranches, the start of April and then mid-April. They have delayed that start date. They've pushed all of it to start mid-April. What's interesting about that, of course, is it will come in after Donald Trump is due to announce the reciprocal tariffs on April 2nd. It's partly, it's said, because they are still trying to negotiate with the Trump Administration about the way they're implemented. But also you would think it will allow them to assess exactly how bad the damage is on April 2nd before they decide what the appropriate response is. But there is no sign that this global trade war is heading to anything like a peaceful resolution.Rachel Mealey:Carrington Clarke in Washington.Appears InACCC finds supermarkets make huge profitsDuration: 20 minutes 28 seconds20m7itemsIn this episode1of7ACCC exposes unfair supermarket dominanceDuration: 3 minutes 47 seconds3m47s2of7Business Council outlines wishes for federal budgetDuration: 5 minutes 39 seconds5m3of7PlayingAustralian social media and AI laws could be in Trump's firing lineDuration: 3 minutes 37 seconds3m37s4of7International students not to blame for high rentsDuration: 3 minutes 14 seconds3m14s5of7Death toll escalates since Hamas-Israel ceasefire shatteredDuration: 3 minutes 13 seconds3m13s6of7Australia joins Europe to help UkraineDuration: 3 minutes 23 seconds3m23s7of7Chinese-built buildings under scrutiny in VanuatuDuration: 3 minutes 6 seconds3m6s