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Will European leadership ever stand up to Donald Trump and US big tech? The current passivity goes beyond a legal or economic shortcoming: it constitutes a moral failure. This inaction undermines the very foundation of Europe's democratic identity. What is at stake is not only the future of companies like Google or Meta, but the principle that the European Union has the right to regulate its own online environment according to its own regulations.

How We Got Here

First, it's important to review the events leading here. In late July, the EU executive accepted a humiliating deal with Trump that locked in a permanent 15% tax on European goods to the US. The EU received nothing in return. The embarrassment was all the greater because the commission also consented to direct well over $1tn to the US through financial commitments and acquisitions of energy and defense equipment. This arrangement exposed the fragility of Europe's reliance on the US.

Soon after, Trump warned of severe new tariffs if Europe implemented its regulations against US tech firms on its own soil.

Europe's Claim vs. Reality

Over many years Brussels has claimed that its economic zone of 450 million rich people gives it unanswerable sway in trade negotiations. But in the month and a half since the US warning, Europe has done little. No retaliatory measure has been taken. No activation of the new trade defense tool, the so-called “trade bazooka” that the EU once vowed would be its ultimate shield against foreign pressure.

Instead, we have polite statements and a penalty on Google of less than 1% of its annual revenue for established market abuses, previously established in US courts, that enabled it to “exploit” its market leadership in the EU's digital ad space.

American Strategy

The US, under Trump's leadership, has made its intentions clear: it does not aim to support EU institutions. It aims to undermine it. A recent essay published on the US State Department platform, composed in paranoid, bombastic language similar to Viktor Orbán's speeches, accused the EU of “an aggressive campaign against Western civilization itself”. It condemned supposed restrictions on authoritarian parties across the EU, from the AfD in Germany to PiS in Poland.

Available Tools for Response

What is to be done? The EU's anti-coercion instrument functions through assessing the extent of the pressure and applying counter-actions. If EU member states agree, the European Commission could remove US goods and services out of the EU market, or impose taxes on them. It can strip their intellectual property rights, prevent their investments and require reparations as a condition of readmittance to Europe's market.

The instrument is not only financial response; it is a declaration of determination. It was designed to signal that the EU would always resist external pressure. But now, when it is needed most, it lies unused. It is not the powerful weapon promised. It is a symbolic object.

Political Divisions

In the period preceding the EU-US trade deal, many European governments talked tough in public, but failed to push for the mechanism to be used. Others, such as Ireland and Italy, openly advocated a softer European line.

A softer line is the worst option that Europe needs. It must enforce its regulations, even when they are challenging. Along with the anti-coercion instrument, the EU should shut down social media “recommended”-style algorithms, that suggest material the user has not asked for, on European soil until they are proven safe for democratic societies.

Comprehensive Approach

Citizens – not the automated systems of international billionaires beholden to external agendas – should have the autonomy to decide for themselves about what they see and distribute online.

Trump is pressuring the EU to weaken its digital rulebook. But now more than ever, Europe should hold large US tech firms responsible for distorting competition, snooping on Europeans, and preying on our children. Brussels must hold Ireland accountable for failing to enforce Europe's online regulations on American companies.

Regulatory action is not enough, however. Europe must gradually substitute all foreign “big tech” services and cloud services over the next decade with homegrown alternatives.

Risks of Delay

The significant risk of the current situation is that if the EU does not take immediate action, it will never act again. The longer it waits, the deeper the erosion of its confidence in itself. The more it will believe that opposition is pointless. The more it will accept that its regulations are not binding, its governmental bodies lacking autonomy, its political system dependent.

When that happens, the path to authoritarianism becomes inevitable, through automated influence on social media and the normalisation of misinformation. If Europe continues to cower, it will be drawn into that same abyss. The EU must take immediate steps, not just to push back against US pressure, but to create space for itself to function as a free and autonomous power.

Global Implications

And in doing so, it must make a statement that the international community can see. In North America, Asia and East Asia, democratic nations are watching. They are questioning if the EU, the remaining stronghold of liberal multilateralism, will stand against foreign pressure or surrender to it.

They are inquiring whether representative governments can survive when the most powerful democracy in the world turns its back on them. They also see the example of Brazilian leadership, who faced down Trump and showed that the way to address a bully is to respond firmly.

But if the EU delays, if it continues to issue polite statements, to levy token fines, to hope for a better future, it will have already lost.