Trump Squares Off with Brussels Over its Digital Rulebook

Just when the European Union thought it was out, United States President Donald Trump pulled it back into a transatlantic dispute over regulating Big Tech.

Only days after the EU and the US published details of a newly-minted trade agreement, the US president railed against countries — without specifically naming the 27-country bloc — that had enacted digital rules targeting some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names.

“I put all countries with digital taxes, legislation, rules, or regulations on notice,” Trump wrote on social media. “Unless these discriminatory actions are removed, I, as President of the United States, will impose substantial additional tariffs on that country’s exports to the USA.”

In response, the European Commission — the EU’s executive branch that has oversight of both the transatlantic trade agreement and the bloc’s digital rules — said it would still implement the EU-US deal, which imposed a 15 percent tariff on most European goods entering the US.