US Supreme Court ruling strips FTC independence, threatens EU‑US data pact

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that members of the Federal Trade Commission can be removed by the president without cause, expanding presidential authority over independent agencies. President Donald Trump hailed the decision as a historic expansion of executive power.

The ruling undermines the legal basis of the EU‑US data‑transfer framework, which relied on an independent FTC to protect European citizens' privacy. Austrian Green Party digital spokesperson Süleyman Zorba warned that the decision “breaks the legal foundation for the EU‑US data‑privacy agreement,” urging the European Commission to withdraw from the pact and pursue European digital sovereignty.

Critics, including former FTC commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, described the decision as illegal and warned it could affect every American by politicising regulatory oversight.