President Trump just dropped 30% duties on goods coming from the European Union, escalating an long -term conflict over who is getting to write the rules of Big Tech. The move came right after Brussels went on with several rules, this time targeting the thriving field of artificial intelligence.
The latest flame point is the EU’s new “Code of Practice” for AI, a set of voluntary guidelines released on Thursday, aiming to tackle the concerns of public security. Although the code is not legally binding, the code is based on the EU Landmark AI law and companies that do not sign up before August 2rd deadline risk intense regulatory control. Openai announced his intention to sign the code on Friday, while the technical lobby group CCIA, whose members include Google and Meta, has criticized the guidelines.
The Trump administration has been open hostile to the EU’s attempts to regulate US tech companies. Trump has described the block’s fierce fines as “overseas extortion”, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has claimed they act as a back door.
This view has been reinforced by Silicon Valley. In a January message, Meta Managing Director Mark Zuckerberg said his company “should work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world going after US companies,” specifically called European regulators. These tensions have curly trade negotiations; In May, Trump administration officials New York Post said the negotiations had stopped over the EU’s refusal to give up its fines of millions of dollars against US tech giants.
What fines have the EU imposed?
According to the 2022 Digital Markets Act (DMA), a landmark became European antitrust law, Apple, Google, Amazon and Meta all considered “portguards.” This term brought a wave of fines and forced changes to their EU operations. Most recently, Meta was hit with a fine of more than $ 200 million after the European Commission found its “payment-or-consumer” model violated DMA. According to a Reuters report from Friday, Meta has decided to fight the conclusions and will not suggest changes, which means more fines are likely to be underway.
Will the EU hole or double?
Despite Trump’s pressure, the EU seems to be intentionally to maintain its legislative independence. Earlier this month, Europe -Commission’s tech chief, Henna Virkkunen, Politico, told the block’s rules on digital competition and AI were not ready for negotiation.
However, the EU has shown some willingness to compromise. The block recently fell a proposed tax on digital companies from the upcoming budget, a step seen as a victory for the Trump administration.
The question now is whether these new tariffs will strike back and provos an even harsher crash. In response to the first round of Customs in April, EU President Ursula von der Leyen was open to target Big Tech with countermeasures whose conversations failed. While the block delayed a set of retaliatory measures set to come into force this last Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron has made it clear that the EU’s most dreaded weapons are still on the table: the anti-cloercion instrument.
“With European Unity, it is more than ever up to the Commission to assert the union’s willingness to resolutely defend European interests,” Macron wrote at X. “This means that the preparation of credible countermeasures is mobilized by mobilizing all the instruments available, including anti-coercion if there is no agreement reached by August 1.”
Together with the President of the Europe Commission, France shares the same very strong rejection of the announcement of horizontal 30% tariffs on EU exports to the United States from August 1st.
This message comes after weeks of intensive commitment from the Commission in …
– Emmanuel Macron (@emmmanuelmacron) July 12, 2025
The bigger picture
The Anti-C-Cercion instrument is considered “Bazooka” in the EU’s Arsenal. While traditional tariffs affect physical goods, this tool allows the EU to impose trade restrictions for services from a country it finds, using financial coercion. If the United States turns out to fit the bill, US tech giants that provide digital services such as Apple, Google and Meta can be uniquely vulnerable.
Ultimately, both sides are struggling to protect their own interests: Trump administration wants to defend US dominance in the global tech industry, while the EU wants to regulate digital platforms on its own terms. As the negotiations continue, they will not only decide the fate of the technology companies trapped in the middle, but will also set the rules for Global Tech sovereignty in the coming years.
But for big tech companies caught in the cross -fire, the message is clear: This is a war on digital sovereignty, and the rules of Internet’s next era can be written in Brussels as much as in Washington.