EU could tax Big Tech’s digital ad revenue if Trump trade talks fail: Ursula von der Leyen
The European Union could retaliate with fresh taxes on American tech giants like Google and Meta if trade negotiations fail with President Trump, a top EU official said.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the powerful European Commission, issued the warning after Trump on Wednesday approved a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs against the EU — and other countries except China — to negotiate trade deals.
“We are developing retaliatory measures,” von der Leyen said in an interview with the Financial Times published Thursday. “There’s a wide range of countermeasures … in case the negotiations are not satisfactory.”
One option is to “put a levy on the advertising revenues of digital services,” she added.
Google and Meta each derive the bulk of their income from digital ads.
Von der Leyen said Big Tech firms could be targeted using the EU’s Anti-Coercion Instrument, which is loosely based on the 1974 US Trade Act and has never been used. Doing so would require a vote by the 27-member bloc that would grant the European Commission wide-ranging powers to limit US trade on the continent.
Trump has imposed a 10% levy on all EU exports to the US. There is also a 25% tariff on imported cars and car parts, as well as on steel and aluminum.
The EC chief described the current state of play as a “complete inflection point in global trade.”
“It’s a turning point with the United States without any question,” she told the FT. “We will never go back any more to the status quo.”
As The Post exclusively reported earlier this week, the EU is already expected to press ahead with major fines against Google and Apple for violations of its Digital Markets Act — a sweeping digital competition law that slaps restrictions on internet gatekeepers.
Senior EU officials said they view the fines and ongoing talks on trade tariffs as “two completely separate processes” and would not cut any special deals with the US on tech.
The fines could be announced as soon as this week or next week.
The fine against Meta could stretch beyond $1 billion, sources said. The size of a potential fine against Apple couldn’t immediately be learned.
Six of the seven firms covered by the DMA are American.
Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Trump himself have publicly criticized the EU’s law — with the president referring to it as “overseas extortion.”
Trump has warned that any additional efforts by the EU to target the US tech industry would result in severe retaliation.
The Brussels-based European Commission has sole authority for EU trade and antitrust policy and has the power to fine tech companies up to 10% of their global turnover for noncompliance with the DMA.
However, initial penalties under the law, which took effect in 2023, are not expected to reach that high.
