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Will European leadership finally stand up to Donald Trump and American tech giants? The current lack of response goes beyond a regulatory or financial failure: it represents a moral collapse. This inaction throws into question the bedrock of Europe's democratic identity. What is at stake is not only the fate of companies like Google or Meta, but the fundamental idea that the European Union has the right to govern its own digital space according to its own regulations.

How We Got Here

First, it's important to review how we got here. In late July, the EU executive agreed to a humiliating deal with the US that locked in a ongoing 15% tax on European goods to the US. The EU gained no concessions in return. The embarrassment was all the greater because the commission also agreed to provide well over $1tn to the US through financial commitments and acquisitions of resources and military materiel. The deal revealed the fragility of Europe's reliance on the US.

Less than a month later, the US administration threatened crushing additional taxes if the EU enforced its laws against US tech firms on its own territory.

Europe's Claim vs. Reality

Over many years Brussels has claimed that its economic zone of 450 million rich people gives it unanswerable sway in trade negotiations. But in the six weeks since the US warning, Europe has done little. Not a single counter-action has been taken. No activation of the new anti-coercion instrument, the often described “trade bazooka” that Brussels once promised would be its ultimate protection against foreign pressure.

By contrast, we have polite statements and a fine on Google of under 1% of its annual revenue for longstanding anticompetitive behaviour, already proven in American legal proceedings, that enabled it to “exploit” its dominant position in the EU's digital ad space.

American Strategy

The US, under Trump's leadership, has made its intentions clear: it does not aim to strengthen EU institutions. It aims to undermine it. An official publication published on the US Department of State's platform, composed in alarmist, bombastic rhetoric similar to Hungarian leadership, accused Europe of “an aggressive campaign against Western civilization itself”. It criticized alleged limitations on political groups across the EU, from German political movements to Polish organizations.

Available Tools for Response

What is to be done? The EU's trade defense mechanism works by assessing the extent of the pressure and imposing counter-actions. If EU member states consent, the European Commission could remove US products out of the EU market, or apply tariffs on them. It can strip their intellectual property rights, block their investments and demand reparations as a requirement of re-entry to EU economic space.

The tool is not only economic retaliation; it is a statement of political will. It was designed to demonstrate that the EU would never tolerate foreign coercion. But now, when it is most crucial, it lies unused. It is not the powerful weapon promised. It is a paperweight.

Internal Disagreements

In the months leading to the EU-US trade deal, several EU states talked tough in public, but did not advocate the mechanism to be used. Others, including Ireland and Italy, publicly pushed for a softer European line.

A softer line is the worst option that Europe needs. It must implement its regulations, even when they are challenging. In addition to the trade tool, the EU should shut down social media “recommended”-style algorithms, that suggest content the user has not requested, on European soil until they are proven safe for democracy.

Comprehensive Approach

The public – not the algorithms of international billionaires beholden to external agendas – should have the freedom to decide for themselves about what they see and distribute online.

Trump is pressuring the EU to water down its digital rulebook. But now especially important, Europe should hold American technology companies accountable for anti-competitive market rigging, snooping on Europeans, and targeting minors. Brussels must hold certain member states accountable for failing to enforce Europe's digital rules on US firms.

Enforcement is insufficient, however. Europe must gradually substitute all foreign “big tech” platforms and cloud services over the next decade with European solutions.

The Danger of Inaction

The significant risk of this moment is that if the EU does not take immediate action, it will never act again. The longer it waits, the deeper the erosion of its confidence in itself. The more it will believe that resistance is futile. The more it will accept that its regulations are not binding, its governmental bodies lacking autonomy, its democracy dependent.

When that occurs, the path to undemocratic rule becomes unavoidable, through automated influence on social media and the acceptance of lies. If the EU continues to remain passive, it will be drawn into that same abyss. The EU must act now, not just to resist US pressure, but to create space for itself to function as a free and autonomous power.

Global Implications

And in taking action, it must make a statement that the international community can see. In Canada, Asia and Japan, democratic nations are observing. They are wondering if the EU, the remaining stronghold of international cooperation, will stand against foreign pressure or yield to it.

They are asking whether representative governments can endure when the most powerful democracy in the world abandons them. They also see the model of Lula in Brazil, who faced down Trump and demonstrated that the approach to deal with a aggressor is to hit hard.

But if Europe hesitates, if it continues to release diplomatic communications, to impose symbolic penalties, to anticipate a improved situation, it will have effectively surrendered.