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Will European leadership finally confront Donald Trump and US big tech? Present lack of response is not just a legal or economic shortcoming: it represents a ethical failure. This inaction throws into question the very foundation of Europe's democratic identity. The central issue is not only the future of firms such as Google or Meta, but the principle that Europe has the authority to govern its own digital space according to its own rules.

How We Got Here

First, let us recount how we got here. During the summer, the European Commission accepted a one-sided agreement with Trump that established a ongoing 15% tax on European goods to the US. The EU received nothing in return. The embarrassment was all the greater because the EU also consented to direct well over $1tn to the US through financial commitments and purchases of energy and defense equipment. This arrangement exposed the fragility of the EU's reliance on the US.

Soon after, Trump threatened severe additional taxes if Europe implemented its laws against US tech firms on its own soil.

The Gap Between Rhetoric and Action

For decades Brussels has claimed that its market of 450 million rich people gives it significant sway in international commerce. But in the six weeks since Trump's threat, the EU has done little. No counter-action has been taken. No invocation of the recently created trade defense tool, the often described “trade bazooka” that the EU once promised would be its primary shield against foreign pressure.

By contrast, we have diplomatic language and a fine on Google of under 1% of its yearly income for longstanding market abuses, already proven in American legal proceedings, that allowed it to “exploit” its dominant position in Europe's advertising market.

American Strategy

The US, under Trump's leadership, has signaled its goals: it does not aim to support EU institutions. It aims to undermine it. A recent essay published on the US State Department website, composed in paranoid, inflammatory rhetoric reminiscent of Hungarian leadership, charged Europe of “systematic efforts against Western civilization itself”. It condemned supposed limitations on authoritarian parties across the EU, from German political movements to Polish organizations.

Available Tools for Response

What is to be done? Europe's trade defense mechanism works by calculating the extent of the coercion and imposing counter-actions. If most European governments agree, the European Commission could remove US goods and services out of Europe's market, or apply taxes on them. It can strip their patents and copyrights, block their investments and require compensation as a condition of readmittance to Europe's market.

The tool is not merely financial response; it is a statement of political will. It was designed to signal that the EU would always resist foreign coercion. But now, when it is needed most, it remains inactive. It is not a bazooka. It is a paperweight.

Political Divisions

In the months preceding the EU-US trade deal, many European governments used strong language in public, but failed to push for the mechanism to be activated. Some nations, including Ireland and Italy, publicly pushed for more conciliatory approach.

Compromise is the worst option that Europe needs. It must enforce its regulations, even when they are challenging. Along with the anti-coercion instrument, Europe should disable social media “for you”-style algorithms, that suggest content the user has not requested, on European soil until they are proven safe for democracy.

Comprehensive Approach

Citizens – not the automated systems of foreign oligarchs beholden to external agendas – should have the freedom to decide for themselves about what they view and share online.

Trump is pressuring the EU to weaken its online regulations. But now especially important, the EU should hold American technology companies accountable for distorting competition, surveillance practices, and targeting minors. EU authorities must ensure certain member states responsible for failing to enforce EU digital rules on US firms.

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

The Danger of Inaction

The real danger of this moment is that if Europe does not act now, it will never act again. The longer it waits, the more profound the decline of its self-belief in itself. The more it will believe that resistance is futile. The greater the tendency that its regulations are unenforceable, its institutions not sovereign, its democracy not self-determined.

When that happens, the route to undemocratic rule becomes unavoidable, through automated influence on social media and the acceptance of lies. If Europe continues to cower, it will be pulled toward that same decline. Europe must act now, not only to push back against Trump, but to establish conditions for itself to exist as a free and sovereign entity.

Global Implications

And in taking action, it must plant a flag that the international community can see. In Canada, South Korea and Japan, democratic nations are observing. They are wondering if the EU, the last bastion of liberal multilateralism, will resist external influence or yield to it.

They are asking whether democratic institutions can survive when the leading democratic nation in the world abandons them. They also see the example of Lula in Brazil, who faced down US pressure and showed that the approach to deal with a bully is to hit hard.

But if the EU hesitates, if it continues to release diplomatic communications, to impose symbolic penalties, to anticipate a better future, it will have already lost.