The EU is ready to put pressure on the US by threatening to tariff its services, where it has a trade surplus with the EU, if negotiations in the ongoing trade war break down, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said.
US big tech is also in von der Leyen’s sights, she told the Financial Times in an interview, signalling readiness to introduce a tax on digital advertising revenues that would hit tech groups such as Meta, Google and Facebook.
The EU will use the anti-coercion tool if necessary, she says, explaining that there were “a wide range of countermeasures” that the Commission could be developing.
The implementation of this tax depends on the outcomes of negotiations on tariffs between the two sides of the Atlantic. Currently, US President Donald Trump is pausing additional tariffs for 90 days.
Von der Leyen said she was seeking a “completely balanced” agreement with the Trump administration.
The Commission president also indicated that she was not against adding product standardisation to the agenda of the trade discussion between the EU and the US, but that “differences in the way of life and in the culture” could be an obstacle to reaching an agreement.
One item that will not be included in the talk is the landmark regulations of the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act. These EU laws tackle illegal content online and digital market distortion and have come under fire from the US tech giants.
In January, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg promised to push back against EU digital regulation with the help of the Trump administration.
