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Will the EU finally stand up to Donald Trump and US big tech? The current inaction is not just a legal or financial shortcoming: it represents a ethical collapse. This inaction undermines the core principles of Europe's political sovereignty. What is at stake is not only the fate of firms such as Google or Meta, but the principle that the European Union has the authority to regulate its own digital space according to its own laws.

Background Context

To begin, consider the events leading here. In late July, the European Commission agreed to a humiliating agreement with the US that established a ongoing 15% tax on EU exports to the US. The EU gained no concessions in return. The indignity was compounded because the commission also agreed to direct more than $1tn to the US through financial commitments and acquisitions of energy and military materiel. This arrangement revealed the vulnerability of Europe's dependence on the US.

Soon after, the US administration warned of crushing additional taxes if the EU enforced its regulations against US tech firms on its own soil.

The Gap Between Rhetoric and Action

For decades EU officials has asserted that its economic zone of 450 million rich people gives it unanswerable leverage in trade negotiations. But in the six weeks since Trump's threat, Europe has done little. No counter-action has been taken. No activation of the new trade defense tool, the often described “trade bazooka” that the EU once vowed would be its primary protection against external coercion.

By contrast, we have polite statements and a fine on Google of less than 1% of its yearly income for established anticompetitive behaviour, already proven in US courts, that allowed it to “abuse” its dominant position in Europe's digital ad space.

US Intentions

The US, under the current administration, has made its intentions clear: it no longer seeks to support EU institutions. It aims to undermine it. An official publication published on the US Department of State's website, written in alarmist, bombastic language similar to Viktor Orbán's speeches, charged the EU of “an aggressive campaign against Western civilization itself”. It criticized alleged limitations on authoritarian parties across the EU, from German political movements to PiS in Poland.

Available Tools for Response

What is to be done? Europe's trade defense mechanism works by assessing the extent of the coercion and applying counter-actions. Provided EU member states agree, the EU executive could remove US goods and services out of Europe's market, or apply tariffs on them. It can strip their patents and copyrights, block their financial activities and require compensation as a requirement of readmittance to EU economic space.

The instrument is not only economic retaliation; it is a statement of political will. It was designed to demonstrate that Europe would always resist foreign coercion. But now, when it is most crucial, it remains inactive. It is not a bazooka. It is a symbolic object.

Political Divisions

In the period leading to the EU-US trade deal, several EU states talked tough in public, but did not advocate the mechanism to be activated. Others, including Ireland and Italy, publicly pushed for more conciliatory approach.

A softer line is the last thing that the EU needs. It must enforce its regulations, even when they are challenging. In addition to the anti-coercion instrument, Europe should shut down social media “recommended”-style systems, that recommend material the user has not requested, on European soil until they are proven safe for democratic societies.

Broader Digital Strategy

The public – not the algorithms of international billionaires serving foreign interests – should have the autonomy to make independent choices about what they view and distribute online.

The US administration is putting Europe under pressure to weaken its online regulations. But now more than ever, Europe should make large US tech firms responsible for anti-competitive market rigging, surveillance practices, and targeting minors. Brussels must ensure certain member states accountable for failing to enforce Europe's online regulations on US firms.

Enforcement is not enough, however. The EU must progressively replace all non-EU “major technology” platforms and computing infrastructure over the next decade with homegrown alternatives.

Risks of Delay

The significant risk of the current situation is that if the EU does not act now, it will never act again. The more delay occurs, the deeper the decline of its confidence in itself. The more it will believe that resistance is futile. The greater the tendency that its laws are not binding, its institutions not sovereign, its political system dependent.

When that happens, the route to undemocratic rule becomes inevitable, through automated influence on social media and the acceptance of lies. If the EU continues to remain passive, it will be pulled toward that same abyss. The EU must take immediate steps, not only to push back against US pressure, but to create space for itself to function as a independent and sovereign entity.

Global Implications

And in taking action, it must plant a flag that the international community can see. In Canada, South Korea and East Asia, democratic nations are watching. They are wondering if the EU, the last bastion of international cooperation, will stand against external influence or yield to it.

They are inquiring whether representative governments can endure when the leading democratic nation in the world turns its back on them. They also see the example of Lula in Brazil, who faced down Trump and showed that the way to deal with a aggressor is to hit hard.

But if Europe hesitates, if it continues to release diplomatic communications, to impose symbolic penalties, to anticipate a better future, it will have already lost.