As the trade war between US and the European Union heats up, he block is preparing to deploy its most powerful trade weapon on US’ tech giants. EU plans to impose tax on Google, Meta And Facebook if it’s talk with the American president fails. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has hinted on this big move also.
Ursula told the Financial Times that the EU would seek a “completely balanced” agreement with Washington during Trump’s 90-day pause in applying additional tariffs. The publication also report her saying that the Commission president warned she was ready to dramatically expand the transatlantic trade war to services if those talks failed, potentially including a tax on digital advertising revenues that would hit tech groups such as Meta, Google and Facebook.
“While finalising the adoption of the EU countermeasures that saw strong support from our member states, we will put them on hold for 90 days,” von der Leyen said in a statement. “If negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in,” the EU Commission chief added. The countermeasures will include slapping duties on tech groups such as Meta, Google and Facebook.
What EU Propose To Strike A Deal With US
Von der Leyen is responsible for managing trade policy for all 27 EU member countries. The report says that the European Commission had tried to hold talks with the US, but the US asked them to wait until after Trump’s April 2 announcement, where he imposed a 20% “reciprocal” tariff on the EU.
She offered the US a Zero-for Zero tariffs on industrial goods. However, the US remain critical, citing concerns on th EU’s other trade barriers—like value-added tax (VAT) and strict product standards- which according to them is hard for US goods to compete in Europe, even if tariffs are removed. However, she is reluctant to revisit the EU’s “untouchable” digital content and market power regulations- which Trump officials view as an effective tax on US big tech firms.
