The European Union could retaliate with new taxes on American tech giants like Google and Meta if trade negotiations fail with President Trump, said top EU officials.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the powerful European Commission, issued a warning after Trump approved a 90-day suspension of mutual tariffs on other countries except the EU and China on Wednesday to negotiate trade deals.
“We are developing retaliatory measures,” von der Leyen said in an interview with Financial Times Released Thursday. “There are a wide range of measures in case the negotiations are not satisfactory.”
One option is to “tax the advertising revenues of digital services.”
Google and Meta each derive a large portion of their revenue from digital ads.
Von Der Leyen said that large tech companies could be targeted using unused EU anti-coercive devices, which are loosely based on the US Trade Act of 1974. Doing so requires a vote by a bloc of 27 people who will grant the European Commission widespread authority to limit US trade on the continent.
Trump has imposed a 10% collection on all EU exports to the US. Imported cars and car parts, steel and aluminum also have 25% tariffs.
The EC Chief described the current state of play as “a complete inflection point of world trade.”
“It's an unquestionable US turning point,” she told Fort. “We won't be able to return to the current situation any further.”
As a post posted earlier this week was reported earlier this week, the EU is already expected to push forward major fines against Google and Apple, a violation of the Digital Markets Act.
Senior EU officials said they viewed trade tariff penalties and continued consultations as “two completely independent processes” and would not cut special deals with the US over technology.
Fines may be announced this week or next week.
The fines for meta could exceed $1 billion, sources said. The size of the potential fine against Apple was not immediately learned.
Of the seven companies covered by the DMA, six are Americans.
Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Trump themselves have publicly criticised EU law. The president calls it “a foreign terror.”
Trump warned that additional efforts by the EU to target the US tech industry would lead to serious retaliation.
The Brussels-based European Commission has the sole authority for EU trade and anti-trust policies, and has power on high-end high-tech companies with up to 10% of global sales for violations with DMA.
However, the initial penalty under the law that took effect in 2023 is not expected to reach that high.
