The EU Thinks It Can Rob America Blind
The EU’s Digital Markets Act is a flawed experiment, born of envy rather than vision.
The EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), now in full swing, has been heralded by its European proponents as a bold step to rein in the power of Big Tech. On its surface, the DMA aims to foster competition, protect consumers, and level the playing field in the digital economy. But beneath this veneer of noble intent lies a more troubling reality: the DMA is less concerned with fairness and more fixated on extracting wealth from successful American tech companies that have long driven global innovation and assume the greatest burden on protecting user privacy and safety.
Far from promoting a healthier digital ecosystem, the DMA threatens to undermine the American-European trade relationship, stifle technological progress, and weaken the United States’ ability to maintain its edge over rivals like China in the race for future technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and others.
The DMA imposes stringent regulations on so-called “gatekeeper” companies, those deemed to wield outsized influence over digital markets. These rules include mandates to open proprietary systems, share data with competitors, and reduce the quality of advertising on free or low-cost services. Conveniently, almost all the firms targeted by the DMA are American.
This is no coincidence. The EU, lacking its own roster of world-leading tech titans, appears to view the success of U.S. companies not as a model to emulate but as a resource to exploit. Fines for noncompliance can reach up to 10 percent of a company’s global turnover, a figure that could siphon billions of dollars from American firms into European coffers. Europe is realizing they have very few cards to play against Trump’s trade policies. It is resorting to regulations to try and make up the difference, hoping that President Trump won’t notice during broader trade talks.
The European Commission is preparing actions against top American tech companies, which could add up to billions of dollars in fines. This isn’t regulation; it’s economic warfare dressed up as consumer protection.
The fallout from the DMA extends beyond corporate balance sheets. It threatens to choke the very innovation it claims to champion. American tech companies have been the engine of the digital age, delivering breakthroughs that have transformed how we live, work, and do business. However, the DMA’s heavy-handed rules impose a compliance burden that diverts resources from research and development to legal battles and bureaucratic navigation.
This is exactly what tariff-by-regulation looks like—raising costs for America’s Silicon Valley, while filling tax coffers in Brussels and giving European and Chinese competitors operating in Europe an unfair advantage. This shortsighted approach risks stagnating the U.S. tech sector at a time when rapid advancement is more critical than ever.
President Trump has made it clear that he will not stand idly by as Brussels bureaucrats target American companies. The Trump administration has signaled a determination to protect U.S. tech leadership, rightly viewing it as both an economic imperative and a matter of national security.
During his first term, Trump championed American businesses through tax cuts and deregulation, unleashing a wave of growth that bolstered the tech sector. Now, facing the DMA’s assault, he will certainly push back against these foreign shakedowns. Whether through diplomatic pressure, trade measures, or other action, Trump’s resolve will be a counterweight to the EU’s overreach, ensuring that American firms aren’t left defenseless against predatory policies.
This fight is about more than just corporate profits; it’s about maintaining U.S. technological supremacy in a world where the stakes couldn’t be higher. China, with its state-backed tech giants and aggressive AI ambitions, looms as the greatest challenger to American leadership. Technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and 6G networks will define the future of economic and military power.
The United States has stayed ahead so far thanks to its innovative private sector, unencumbered by the kind of stifling regulations the DMA represents. If American companies are bogged down by EU red tape, their ability to outpace China could falter. The consequences would be dire: a world where Beijing, not Washington, sets the technological agenda, with all the implications for freedom, security, and prosperity that entails, is not a world where most Europeans or Americans want to live.
The DMA is a flawed experiment, born of envy rather than vision. It seeks to punish success rather than foster it, jeopardizing a vital transatlantic partnership and handing an advantage to America’s rivals. President Trump’s commitment to defending U.S. tech leadership is a necessary bulwark against this folly. For the sake of innovation, economic strength, and global competitiveness, the United States must resist the EU’s wealth grab and double down on the ingenuity that has made it the world’s tech powerhouse.
About the Author: Robert C. O’Brien
Ambassador Robert C. O’Brien (Ret.) was the twenty-seventh National Security Advisor of the United States (2019–21) and is the Chairman of American Global Strategies.
Image: CornelPutan / Shutterstock.com.