EU DEFENDS DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY AFTER TRUMP THREATENS TARIFFS – EU says the Digital Services Legislation & Digital Markets Act apply broadly
The European Union (EU) reaffirmed that regulating economic activities, including rules concerning major technology firms, is its sovereign right.
“It is the sovereign right of the EU and its member states to regulate economic activities on our territory, which are consistent with our democratic values,” European Commission chief spokesperson Paula Pinho said at a press conference.
Pinho added that the issue was not part of the EU’s recent framework agreement with the United States, describing the two matters as “separate questions”.
The bloc’s tech spokesman Thomas Regnier also dismissed the criticism, stressing that the EU’s Digital Services Legislation and Digital Markets Act apply broadly and do not single out U.S. firms.
In April this year, the European Commission announced that it had fined the U.S.’s Apple Inc. 500 million euros and Meta, the parent company of the U.S. social media platform Facebook, 200 million euros for violating the Digital Markets Act. These were also the first fines issued since the implementation of the Digital Markets Act.
U.S. President Donald Trump posted on social media yesterday, warning all countries that implement digital regulation and digital taxes to withdraw discriminatory measures against U.S. enterprises, or the United States will impose additional high tariffs on goods from these countries and restrict the export of high-tech products such as chips to these countries.
