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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/09/the-eu-has-a-secret-weapon-to-counter-trumps-economic-bullying-its-time-to-use-it>
"Will Brussels ever stand up to Donald Trump and US big tech? Its current lack
of action is not just a legal or economic failure: it is a moral one. It throws
into question the very foundation of Europe’s democratic identity. What is at
stake is not merely the fate of Google or Meta, but the principle that Europe
has the right to govern its own digital space according to its own laws. If the
EU cannot enforce its own laws then it is a vassal to Washington and to Silicon
Valley, with Trump as its overlord.
First, let us recount how we got here. In late July the European Commission
accepted a humiliating deal with Trump that locked in a permanent 15% tariff on
EU exports to the US. Europe received nothing in return. The indignity was all
the greater because the commission also agreed to give well over $1tn to the US
by way of investments and purchases of energy and military materiel. The deal
exposed the fragility of Europe’s dependence on the US. Less than a month
later, Trump threatened crushing new tariffs if Europe enforced its laws
against US tech firms on its own soil.
For decades Brussels has claimed that its market of 450 million rich people
gives it unanswerable sway in trade negotiations. But in the six weeks since
Trump’s threat, Europe has done little. Not a single retaliatory measure. No
invocation of the new anti-coercion instrument, the so-called “trade bazooka”
that Brussels once promised would be its ultimate shield against foreign
pressure. Instead, we have polite statements and a fine on Google of less than
1% of its annual revenue for longstanding anticompetitive behaviour, already
proven in US courts, that allowed it to “abuse” its dominant position in
Europe’s advertising market.
The US, under Trump’s leadership, has made its intentions clear: it no longer
seeks to strengthen European democracy. It seeks to undermine it. A recent
essay published on the US Department of State’s Substack, written in the same
paranoid, bombastic language as Viktor Orbán’s speeches, accused Europe of “an
aggressive campaign against Western civilization itself”. It condemned supposed
restrictions on authoritarian parties across the EU, from the AfD in Germany to
PiS in Poland.
What is to be done? Europe’s anti-coercion instrument works by calculating the
degree of the coercion and imposing counter-actions. Provided most European
governments agree, the European Commission could kick US goods and services out
of Europe’s market, or apply tariffs to them. It can strip their intellectual
property rights, block their investments and require reparations as a condition
of readmittance to Europe’s market.
The instrument is not merely economic retaliation; it is a declaration of
political will. It was designed to signal that Europe would never tolerate
foreign coercion. But now, when it is needed most, it lies unused. It is not a
bazooka. It is a paperweight. In the months leading to the EU-US trade deal,
many European governments talked tough in public, but failed to push for the
instrument to be activated. Others, including Ireland and Italy, publicly
pushed for a softer European line.
A softer line is the last thing that Europe needs. It must enforce its laws,
even when they are inconvenient. Along with the anti-coercion instrument,
Europe should shut down social media “for you”-style algorithms, that recommend
content the user has not asked for, on European soil until they are proven safe
for democracy. Citizens – not the algorithms of foreign oligarchs beholden to
foreign interests – should have the freedom to decide for themselves what they
see and share online.
Trump is putting Europe under pressure to water down its digital rulebook. But
now more than ever, Europe should hold large US tech firms accountable for
anti-competitive market rigging, snooping on Europeans, and preying on our
children. Brussels must hold Ireland accountable for failing to enforce
Europe’s digital rules on US firms. Enforcement is not enough, however. Europe
must progressively replace all non-EU “big tech” platforms and cloud services
over the next decade with homegrown alternatives."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
