US ambassador Puzder threatens EU with retaliation over Starlink spectrum plan

what happened

Speaking to the Financial Times, US ambassador to the EU Andrew Puzder said European firms "should be wary" of retaliation if the European Commission proceeds with its plan to reserve most of the 2 GHz mobile-satellite spectrum band for European operators once current Viasat and EchoStar licenses expire in 2027, a carve-out that would leave only a limited slice open to non-EU firms including SpaceX's Starlink and Amazon's Leo. Puzder said retaliation would be "very devastating given the scale of the American market," per TRT World, and separately told the FT the consequences would be "severe given how much those companies depend on access to the large US market," per investingLive's report on the interview. The European Commission defended the proposal, saying it "encourages new entrants and more diverse EU suppliers while remaining open to operators from outside the bloc."

why it matters

The EU's 2 GHz plan splits the band into three blocks, one reserved for government and defense use tied to IRIS2, one for European startups, and a third open to European or non-European bidders, directly shaping how much satellite-to-phone spectrum Starlink and Amazon's Leo can access in Europe once the Viasat/EchoStar licenses lapse. An on-record US retaliation threat raises the stakes of that fight beyond the technical spectrum debate ESPI flagged days earlier, into trade politics that could affect any US operator counting on European D2D market access, even though Puzder did not specify what retaliation would involve.

for who

SpaceX, Amazon Leo, European D2D operators and regulators

signal-to-noise

quick facts

Companies

SpaceX, Amazon

Category

regulatory

Impact

notable

SNR

4 / 5

Event date

2026-10-18

Published

2026-10-19 05:24 UTC