The ink was barely dry on the deal stopping a trade war between the European Union and the United States when Donald Trump came back for more.
During negotiations, the Trump administration made clear its disdain for how the EU regulates digital services. US tech giants have chafed at the online guardrails the union has set up to put some manners on social media platforms.
The European Commission, which led negotiations for the EU, was adamant that these regulations were not up for discussion as part of any tariff deal.
In the end, a joint statement setting out the agreement only contained a nod to the two sides working together to address “unjustified digital trade barriers”.
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Just one week later and Brussels finds itself on the back foot again. US president Trump threatened additional tariffs or export controls on countries that used digital regulations to “attack” US tech companies.
The Truth Social post seemed a clear reference to the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and its Digital Markets Act (DMA), two new landmark laws in the crosshairs of Big Tech.
The DSA puts obligations on social media companies to remove illegal content and hate speech, protect underage users and make sure their platforms are not being manipulated to interfere in elections.
Trump is unlikely to drop the matter, setting up a potentially nasty fight between Brussels and Washington at some point
The other heavyweight piece of legislation, the DMA, was brought in to stop tech giants using their dominant market positions to snuff out competition.
The laws give the commission the power to hit companies with fines running to hundreds of millions of euros, or higher, for serious breaches of its rules.
The EU executive can also direct platforms to make changes to their practices to come into compliance. This infuriates Silicon Valley.
These new rules are separate to the bloc’s competition and state aid investigations, which forced Apple to cough up €13 billion in back taxes to the Republic of Ireland.
The commission has repeatedly stressed its regulations do not single out US firms. Officials point to recent enforcement action taken against Chinese video platform TikTok and ecommerce site Temu.
Trump is unlikely to drop the matter, setting up a potentially nasty fight between Brussels and Washington at some point. The EU wants to avoid its hastily agreed truce on tariffs falling apart, but scrapping its digital rules remains a non-starter.
There will surely be more hand-wringing than usual by Ursula von der Leyen and others in the commission about any future decision to hit US tech giants with big fines.
