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Can European leadership finally stand up to the US administration and US big tech? Present inaction goes beyond a legal or financial failure: it constitutes a ethical collapse. This inaction throws into question the core principles of Europe's political sovereignty. What is at stake is not merely the fate of companies like Google or Meta, but the fundamental idea that Europe has the right to regulate its own digital space according to its own rules.

Background Context

First, let us recount how we got here. During the summer, the European Commission agreed to a one-sided deal with the US that locked in a permanent 15% tax on EU exports to the US. The EU received nothing in return. The embarrassment was all the greater because the commission also consented to provide well over $1tn to the US through investments and purchases of resources and defense equipment. The deal revealed the fragility of Europe's dependence on the US.

Less than a month later, the US administration threatened severe additional taxes if the EU enforced its regulations against American companies on its own soil.

The Gap Between Rhetoric and Action

For decades Brussels has asserted that its market of 450 million rich people gives it unanswerable sway in international commerce. But in the six weeks since Trump's threat, the EU has done little. Not a single counter-action has been implemented. No invocation of the recently created trade defense tool, the often described “trade bazooka” that the EU once promised would be its ultimate shield against external coercion.

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

US Intentions

The US, under Trump's leadership, has made its intentions clear: it no longer seeks to support European democracy. It aims to weaken it. An official publication released on the US Department of State's platform, written in alarmist, inflammatory language reminiscent of Viktor Orbán's speeches, charged Europe of “systematic efforts against democratic values itself”. It criticized supposed limitations on authoritarian parties across the EU, from the AfD in Germany to PiS in Poland.

Available Tools for Response

How should Europe respond? Europe's anti-coercion instrument functions through assessing the degree of the pressure and applying counter-actions. Provided most European governments consent, the EU executive could remove US goods and services out of Europe's market, or impose tariffs on them. It can strip their intellectual property rights, prevent their investments and require compensation as a requirement of readmittance to EU economic space.

The instrument is not merely financial response; it is a declaration of political will. It was created to signal that the EU would never tolerate external pressure. But now, when it is needed most, it remains inactive. It is not a bazooka. It is a symbolic object.

Political Divisions

In the months leading to the EU-US trade deal, many European governments talked tough in official statements, but did not advocate 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 laws, even when they are inconvenient. Along with the anti-coercion instrument, the EU should shut down social media “recommended”-style systems, that suggest content the user has not requested, on EU territory until they are demonstrated to be secure for democracy.

Broader Digital Strategy

The public – not the automated systems of international billionaires beholden to foreign interests – should have the autonomy to make independent choices about what they see and distribute online.

Trump is putting Europe under pressure to weaken its digital rulebook. But now more than ever, the EU should hold large US tech firms responsible for distorting competition, snooping on Europeans, and preying on our children. Brussels must hold certain member states accountable for not implementing Europe's digital rules on American companies.

Regulatory action is not enough, however. Europe must progressively replace all non-EU “major technology” platforms and cloud services over the coming years with homegrown alternatives.

The Danger of Inaction

The real danger of the current situation is that if the EU does not act now, it will become permanently passive. The longer it waits, the deeper the decline of its confidence in itself. The increasing acceptance that opposition is pointless. The greater the tendency that its regulations are unenforceable, its governmental bodies lacking autonomy, its political system dependent.

When that happens, the route to undemocratic rule becomes inevitable, through automated influence on social media and the acceptance of misinformation. If Europe continues to remain passive, it will be drawn into that same abyss. Europe must act now, not only to push back against Trump, but to create space for itself to exist as a free and sovereign entity.

Global Implications

And in doing so, it must make a statement that the rest of the world can see. In North America, South Korea and East Asia, democratic nations are observing. They are wondering if the EU, the remaining stronghold of international cooperation, will stand against external influence or yield to it.

They are inquiring whether representative governments can endure when the leading democratic nation in the world abandons them. They also see the model of Lula in Brazil, who confronted Trump and showed that the way to deal with a aggressor is to respond firmly.

But if Europe delays, if it continues to release diplomatic communications, to impose symbolic penalties, to hope for a improved situation, it will have already lost.