Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Some American tech giants bracing for expected European fines are hoping President Trump defends them, even as he hammers them at home.
The big picture: The White House is likely to view aggressive fines and remedies as overreaching European policy that discriminates against American innovation, but it's not yet clear how the administration will act in response.
Driving the news: Europe is gearing up to fine Meta for alleged violations of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the bloc's competition law for digital firms, per reports from the New York Post and the Financial Times.
- The punishments for not adhering to the DMA will likely include huge fees along with compliance measures that would change how U.S. social media companies operate in Europe.
- The DMA is meant to keep Big Tech "gatekeepers" as designated by the EU from unfairly boxing out smaller tech companies.
- Europe first accused Meta of violating the DMA last summer. Google and Apple were accused of violating the DMA earlier this month.
Flashback: Under the Biden administration, there was a lot more cooperation between the EU and the U.S. on tech issues.
- The FTC, Justice Department, White House, and European Commission had similar goals around Big Tech competition and new types of antitrust regulation.
But the Trump administration is aiming to take on Big Tech in its own way, and doesn't want to cede any authority to foreign leaders.
- A February Trump memorandum took aim at foreign tech regulations, stating: "Regulations that dictate how American companies interact with consumers in the European Union, like the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act, will face scrutiny from the Administration."
- Despite Big Tech's cozier relationships with Trump now than in his first term, investigations continue at the FTC and DOJ, and companies still fend off accusations of conservative censorship.
What they're saying: Vice President Vance has railed against what he sees as European overreach on AI rules and content laws such as the DSA.
- Meta's Mark Zuckerberg called antitrust fines "kind of like a tariff" while appearing on Joe Rogan's podcast.
- The White House didn't respond to request for comment on their stance on the DMA.
The other side: Smaller tech companies and startup groups are pushing the Trump administration to do just the opposite: embrace the DMA.
- Led by startup incubator Y Combinator, "little tech" groups wrote to the White House earlier this month to support the DMA.
- "[W]e respectfully urge the White House to recalibrate its stance toward Europe's digital regulation, drawing a clear line between measures that hamper innovation and those that foster it."
What we're watching: This week, EU competition chief Teresa Ribera is in Washington for the American Bar Association antitrust conference.
- Ribera's trip could impact the outcomes of DMA investigations and how they ultimately hit U.S. companies deemed gatekeepers by the law.
