Trump opens a divide between US and EU over Big Tech

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President Trump on Thursday called out the European Union for its antitrust battles with American tech giants, saying the billions of dollars in fines they’ve levied against US companies amount to a tax on American corporations.

Trump made the comments during a virtual appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, during which he laid out plans for his second term and took questions from the likes of Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan and Santander’s Ana Botín.

“They took court cases with Apple, and they supposedly won a case that most people didn’t think was much of a case, they won $15 billion or $16 billion from Apple. They won billions from Google. I think they’re after Facebook for billions and billions,” Trump said about the bloc’s regulators.

“These are American companies, whether you like them or not, they are American companies, and they shouldn’t be doing that. And as far as I’m concerned, it’s a form of taxation,” he added.

The EU has been aggressively tackling the power of American tech companies for years. Most recently, the bloc fined Apple (AAPL) 13 billion euros over back taxes owed to Ireland. The fee hit Apple’s bottom line in Q4, pulling lower its earnings per share from $1.64 to $0.97.

In March 2024, the EU fined Apple $2 billion as part of the company’s long-running battle with Spotify for allegedly “abusing its dominant position on the market for the distribution of music streaming apps.”

European Commissioner for Europe fit for the Digital Age Margrethe Vestager speaks during a media conference regarding an antitrust case against Google Adtech at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
European Commissioner for Europe fit for the Digital Age Margrethe Vestager speaks during a media conference regarding an antitrust case against Google Adtech at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) · ASSOCIATED PRESS

Google (GOOG, GOOGL) lost a legal battle with the EU in September, forcing the company to pay $2.7 billion for using its price comparison tool to disadvantage European services. Google also continues to fight a 2011 antitrust case over its Android operating system, which the EU says the company uses to impose “illegal restrictions on Android device manufacturers and mobile network operators to cement its dominant position in general internet search.”

In November, the EU fined Meta (META) 797 million euros over claims that it breached antitrust rules through its Facebook Marketplace service. The bloc also fined Meta $1.3 billion in 2023 over claims that it violated data protection rules in the region.

Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) haven’t escaped the EU’s sights, either. The collection of European economies threatened Amazon with antitrust fines of $47 billion, forcing the company to change its business practices in the EU. The regulator recently issued a statement of objections to Microsoft over its decision to tie its Teams software to its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 productivity suites.




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