Trump threatens tariffs on countries that regulate US tech companies, testing Europe

WASHINGTON (TNND) — President Donald Trump is ramping up pressure on the European Union and other countries to cut back on regulation and taxes for tech firms that he says target American companies, threatening new tariffs and other restrictions if they do not comply and risking a fresh trade truce.

Wielding tariffs and economic pressures as bargaining chips to bend other countries’ policies to his will in his pursuit of trade deals and other shifts in international policy.

“I put all Countries with Digital Taxes, Legislation, Rules, or Regulations, on notice that unless these discriminatory actions are removed, I, as President of the United States, will impose substantial additional Tariffs on that Country’s Exports to the U.S.A., and institute Export restrictions on our Highly Protected Technology and Chips,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.

While Trump did not call out Europe specifically in his post, he and other officials in his administration have repeatedly criticized the bloc for how its handled regulation and taxes for major American tech companies like Meta and Google.

The president and other Republicans have focused on the EU’s Digital Services Act requiring social media companies to take a more hands-on approach to monitoring their platforms for disinformation and problematic content, which the administration sees as an unfair targeting of American companies and a danger to free speech.

There has also been criticism from the administration and U.S. companies of the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which requires large tech companies to open up their platforms to prevent them from creating a monopoly and ensuring fair competition.

Europe has argued its tech regulations do not target American companies and said the rules apply to all platforms, regardless of where they are based.

“It is the sovereign right of the EU and its member states to regulate economic activities on our territory, which are consistent with our democratic values,” European Commission spokesperson Paula Pinho said on Tuesday.

Some European countries have their own digital services tax, a policy the administration has also taken issue with in other countries. Earlier this year, Trump threatened higher tariffs on Canada if it went forward with a proposal to implement a digital services tax, which has since been nixed.

Trump has already been able to get the EU to agree to major concessions in the original round of trade talks through higher tariffs on key industries like autos and pharmaceuticals and agreeing to make huge investments into American energy purchases. But whether the bloc will be willing to bend on its digital regulations is another test of how far it is willing to go to maintain relations with Trump.

“I don’t see the EU as being very willing to roll back, because it was a significant effort in the first place to get these the regulations passed,” said Garret Martin, Hurst Senior Professorial Lecturer and the co-director of the Transatlantic Policy Center at American University. “It’s also something that has very much been a longstanding ambition to have greater digital sovereignty because the landscape has been dominated by big American companies.”

There has been some interest in the U.S. for regulating Big Tech companies, but much of the attention recently has been focused on protecting children on the platforms and the momentum for getting a bill signed into law has faded as other legislative priorities have taken precedent.

Trump’s threats to target countries with policies that restrict American companies come at a fragile moment for the United States’ relationship with Europe. Terms of a trade deal described by both sides as a starting point in continued talks were just published last week and European leaders are trying to get the White House to take their security concerns into consideration as he tries to find a resolution to the war in Ukraine.

While the U.S. and EU agreed to some terms of a trade deal, many contentious issues remain unsettled as talks have continued. In a short text released last week, the two sides agreed to a blanket 15% tariff on most EU goods, 0% tariffs on American cars and other industrial products and some exceptions to the bloc’s baseline rate. Major areas left unresolved include EU wine and spirits, steel and how to handle tech regulations.

What has been agreed upon could also still be reversed, as the text released last week is not legally binding and could be changed. Export restrictions on computer chips to Europe also poses a risk for the bloc as it tries to build out its capacity to service and develop technologies of the future like artificial intelligence.

“It gives credence to the voices who feel that if Trump senses weakness, that his negotiating tactic is going to be to keep on pushing, to keep on demanding. Nothing is ever so fully agreed upon. It’s always subject to renegotiation,” Martin said.