Over the years, the EU has enacted several legislations that have disrupted how some tech companies operate. For the most part, it’s about setting standards and preserving users’ privacy. However, not everyone is a fan of those legislations, especially when it targets US companies. During the World Economic Forum, US President Donald Trump criticizes EU regulators for targeting US tech companies like Apple.

Trump criticizes EU for targeting Apple

The US government will enact a series of protectionist policies under Trump’s presidency. These policies are designed to help protect the US economy and companies. This includes imposing tariffs against imports, although based on Trump’s recent comments, it also seems to want to protect these companies from non-US regulators.

According to Trump, “These are American companies whether you like it or not. They shouldn’t be doing that. That’s, as far as I’m concerned, a form of taxation. We have some very big complaints with the EU.” Trump also commented on the EU’s economic policies in general. “The EU treats us very, very unfairly, very badly…We have hundreds of billions of dollars of deficits with the EU. And nobody’s happy with it, and we’re going to do something about it.”

Some might view Trump’s comments as a good thing. However, it could complicate things for the companies involved as well. Companies like Apple need to maintain good relations with the governments of the countries they operate in. Even though they are a US company, if they hope to sell its goods and services in other countries, they must abide by local laws and regulations.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out and if EU regulators might back off following Trump’s comments. Either that or things are about to get super messy.

Targeting other US tech giants

There have been several cases where US tech giants have caught the attention of EU regulators. More recently, Apple lost its appeal in a tax case that cost the company €13 billion in back taxes. Apple funneled the revenue it generated in the EU to its European HQ in Ireland.

Like many companies, Apple chose Ireland due to the low corporate tax rate compared to other EU countries. The Irish government even made a deal with Apple which lowered it even more. Unfortunately, EU regulators claimed that these arrangements were illegal. Apple and the Irish government attempted to appeal, but ultimately failed.

Another example would be how the EU forced Google to change the way search results are displayed. The EU has also launched multiple antitrust investigations on US companies, including Google, Microsoft, and Meta. Some have even called for the breaking up of Google.