EU could tax Big Tech if Trump trade talks fail, says von der Leyen
EU could tax Big Tech if Trump trade talks fail, says von der Leyen
European Commission president tells FT she wants ‘balanced’ deal but could hit US services in retaliation
Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.10-201115/https://www.ft.com/content/fba18bd9-46f9-4736-89f3-976afe3abf7a
The EU is prepared to deploy its most powerful trade measures and may impose levies on US digital companies if negotiations with Donald Trump fail to end his tariff war against Europe.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen 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.
But 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.
“We are developing retaliatory measures,” von der Leyen said, explaining these could include the first use of the bloc’s anti-coercion instrument with the power to hit services exports. “There’s a wide range of countermeasures . . . in case the negotiations are not satisfactory.”