Multiple tech giants, including Apple, Google, Meta, and Elon Musk’s X, are facing a potential wave of significant fines and even forced divestments from the European Union putting the bloc on a collision course with U.S. President Trump. Dozens of ongoing antitrust investigations could result in billions of dollars in penalties for these American companies.

Gian Volpicelli and Samuel Stolton for Bloomberg News:
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For Trump, who last week accused the tech sector of “using its market power to crack down on the rights of so many Americans,” that might be welcome. Except he has repeatedly accused Europe of treating the US badly and said he won’t accept that.

His relationships with America’s tech titans are also complex. He has publicly feuded with Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg and Google over the years. But he’s had a closer relationship with Apple CEO Tim Cook, while Musk is now a fixture of his inner circle at Mar-a-Lago.

The most immediate dilemma for the EU may be how to approach the X platform. Musk was a key backer of Trump’s campaign, dumping more than $274 million into supporting Trump and his allies…

Apple, which the EU has hit with fines, tax decisions and costly orders, faces another potentially significant fine in a case targeting its hugely profitable App Store under the DMA. Watchdogs are readying a fresh penalty as they near a March deadline for a decision.

It’s facing extra scrutiny under the DMA into its iOS operating system, iPadOS, and Safari, as well as how it allows makers of rival hardware such as smart watches and headphones access to its iPhone system.

In the US, the company is facing an antitrust suit alleging it’s illegally blocking rivals from accessing hardware and software on its iPhones.

Trump has spoken openly about his chats with Apple boss Cook, who was a frequent visitor to the White House during the first term… In October, Trump said Cook called him to complain about the EU’s efforts to claw back allegedly unpaid tax from the company – €13 billion ($13.6 billion) – as well its decision to fine the firm €1.8 billion for suffocating competition on its App Store. He also revealed in a podcast that he told Cook he wouldn’t let the EU “take advantage of our companies.”

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MacDailyNews Take: As we’ve stated clearly previously:

The European Union arose because the Europeans couldn’t compete on their own with the rest of the world, so they each lined up to surrender their national sovereignty, unique cultures, and dignity for an undemocratic, opaque, wasteful, bloated, bureaucratic quasi-governmental blob – and, even with the EU’s thumbs all over the scale, they still can’t compete. — MacDailyNews, March 4, 2024

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