It's completely without merit. Do you really think US regulation isn't written for the benefit of US companies? It is!
> [...] US does the same in other industries
As it happens, automotive regulation in Europe is far stricter than the US ones (emissions and pedestrian safety come to mind).
In any event US cars don’t sell in Europe for a range of reasons including size and fuel consumption. Those stricter rules apply to everyone and I don’t think it’s beyond US manufacturers to meet those rules for cars sold in European markets.
If you’re saying that Europe should loosen its safety rules just so the US can export more cars then the answer will certainly be no.
Or the US companies could do a minimum amount of effort to tailor their product line for the target market.