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Is the EU giving in to Trump?


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Apple, Meta and Google are urging future US President Trump to take action against “overzealous” EU regulation. Is Brussels now deviating from its hard line against the tech giants?

Angela Göpfert

Donald Trump returns to the White House next week. For the EU Commission, January 20th could mark a turning point when it comes to the regulation of large digital companies, because the US tech giants have gained a powerful advocate in Trump.

Apple, Meta and Google are urging Trump to take action against what they see as the EU's “overzealous” actions. Their hope: The Republican could put pressure on the EU Commission to loosen or even reverse the regulation of big tech companies.

DMA studies on the brink?

In fact, some officials and diplomats in Brussels seem to have a lot of respect for the future US president – at least that's what a report in the Financial Times (FT) suggests. This is not surprising: after all, Trump pursued an extremely confrontational approach towards the EU during his first term in office. So are investigations under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) now in jeopardy?

The aim of the EU law, which came into force on March 7, 2024, is to strengthen competition in digital markets and thwart market abuse by large tech companies. Last March, Brussels initiated direct investigations under the DMA against Apple, Google and Meta.


Headquarters of the EU Commission in Brussels.

What is the Digital Markets Act?

With the Digital Markets Act (DMA) – German: law on digital markets – a new EU regulation for particularly powerful digital platforms came into force on March 7, 2024. The aim is to strengthen competition in digital markets and limit the influence of large tech companies such as Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft.

In the event of violations of the DMA, the EU Commission can demand fines of up to ten percent – in repeated cases even up to 30 percent – of the global annual turnover. The last resort is even to break up the company.

A completely new game for the EU

According to the FT report, the EU Commission now wants to reassess these investigations. This review could lead to Brussels reducing or changing the scope of the investigation, the newspaper said, citing insiders. All decisions and potential fines would be suspended during the review, but technical work on the cases would continue.

“It will be a whole new game if these tech oligarchs are so close to Trump and put pressure on us,” a senior EU diplomat told the FT. “There's so much up in the air right now.” Two other EU officials stressed that Brussels regulators are now waiting for political instructions to make final decisions in the Google, Apple and Meta cases.

The Commission, however, said it “remains fully committed to the effective enforcement” of its rules. “There are no delays in closing the non-compliance cases opened, and certainly not due to political considerations,” an EU spokesman told the FT.

Trump threatens higher tariffs

But according to experts, it could be difficult for the EU to withstand pressure from the USA in the future. Because Trump is unlikely to limit it to verbal banter; Even before his inauguration, the Republican had announced punitive tariffs on products from the EU.

In order to agree more leniently with the new US president when it comes to trade and customs policy, the EU Commission could possibly be prepared to make concessions in the implementation of the DMA.

Tech companies are likely to benefit from Vestager's departure

The tech companies also benefit from the fact that a new term of office for the EU Commission began in December. The Danish Margrethe Vestager and the French Thierry Breton, who both took a hard line against US technology companies, are no longer members of the new EU Commission.

The Danish liberal Vestager in particular has repeatedly used competition law over the past ten years to show US tech companies their limits and impose billions in fines on them.

Vestager was EU Commissioner for Competition from 2014 to 2024.

Ursula von der Leyen, who once again chairs the committee as president, has also acted as an advocate of a strong regulatory framework in the past. But under the political and economic pressure of the new Trump administration, it could be forced to adapt its strategy with regard to tech companies.

Will the DMA be abolished now?

However, it is extremely unlikely that the DMA will be abolished completely – the political and legal hurdles are too high. Even changing the law seems difficult. This would require a corresponding proposal from the EU Commission, which would have to be examined and approved by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. A political majority against the DMA would therefore be necessary in both Parliament and the Council. But it doesn't look like that at the moment.

The EU Commission may therefore have to find pragmatic solutions in order not to unnecessarily strain relations with the USA. In this scenario, the DMA could simply be implemented less strictly or less quickly so as not to severely impact the economic interests of tech companies.

How Zuckerberg is ensnaring the new US president

Meanwhile, some US tech companies are increasing the pressure on Trump to act in their favor. Mark Zuckerberg, head of the Facebook group Meta, recently called on the elected president to prevent Brussels from punishing US technology companies.

In order to get Trump on his side, Zuckerberg has recently taken numerous measures: He only rolled back his company's measures for equal opportunities and diversity at the weekend – after the relaxation of hate speech rules and the planned stop to fact checks in the USA.

Consumers as losers?

Silicon Valley bosses are likely to continue to ensnare Trump in the hope of ushering in an era of looser technology regulation. For the EU Commission, it now boils down to a political decision: Is it willing to defend its law against market abuse by large tech companies? And if so, what price will she have to pay for it?

The fact is: If the EU were to give in, it would be the users who would primarily suffer. Because that's what the DMA is ultimately about: more choice and better prices for consumers.

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