President Donald Trump’s administration is warning that the United States could impose tariffs or restrictions on European service providers in response to what it called “discriminatory” actions against American companies.
Trade relations between the United States and the European Union are once again under high tension. The US government is threatening to impose tariffs on European service providers in retaliation for what it considers unfair treatment of American technology companies.
“If the EU and its member states continue to insist on restricting, constraining, and discouraging the competitiveness of U.S. service providers (read: big tech, ed.) through discriminatory means, the United States will have no choice but to use all available tools to counter these unreasonable measures,” the US trade agency USTR reported on X. USTR stated that under US law, tariffs or restrictions can be imposed on foreign services “should it be necessary to take retaliatory measures.”
Europe wants to take a tougher stance on big tech
The threat comes as Europe continues to crack down on Big Tech companies. Regulators previously imposed a €120 million ($140 million) fine on Elon Musk’s social media platform X in December, just months after Google was hit with an unexpectedly large €2.95 billion ($3.44 billion) tax. Last week, President Donald Trump strongly criticized that fine on X. Owner Elon Musk wrote after the fine that the EU should be disbanded.
The EU emphasised to AFP that it will continue to enforce technology regulations “without discrimination.” “As we have repeatedly made clear, our rules apply fairly and equally to all companies operating in the EU,” a European Commission spokesperson responded.
