Duties, taxes, rules and privacy: Big tech squeezed between Trump and the EU

Few industries have courted Donald Trump with the assiduity of Big Tech. Millions donated to his inauguration ceremony, visits to the private residence at Mar-a-Lago and the White House. Bombastic announcements, more or less credible, from Apple as well as OpenAi, about domestic investments of hundreds of billions in homage to the America First agenda. And tones from followers of his causes, from Amazon's Jeff Bezos, who on the eve of the election withdraws his Washington Post's endorsement of Democrat Kamala Harris, to Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, who denounces Corporate America's lack of virility.

Yet few industries have seen their priorities more neglected to date. Trade protectionism, constantly evolving between announcements and partial retreats, clashes with the nature of particularly globalised companies like technology. With yet another turnaround Trump has for now exempted from global reciprocal duties - first and foremost the very high ones against China - many electronics (smartphones, PCs, semiconductor technologies) allowing groups from Apple to Dell and Nvidia to breathe a sigh of relief. The damocles sword of tariffs, however, is still looming: the exemption, the White House warned, may turn out to be temporary, and new tariffs on chips are expected within a few months, which could affect the entire technology sector.

In a climate of rising protectionism, the stakes for Silicon Valley brands are certainly very high their gadgets and development plans, the fruit of multinational networks, are under fire from price hikes; and services, which for many Big Techs are the world's export par excellence, are at the mercy of reprisals. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy expects tariffs to hurt the US e-commerce king. While they threaten to derail the data centre and artificial intelligence strategies of Nvidia and Alphabet.

The duel with Europe is emblematic of the many risks. The EU, albeit amid divisions, could seriously consider targeted levies on US digital and tech leaders if there are no agreements to defuse transatlantic tensions. Just today EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic will be in Washington for negotiations. But the assessment of the European finance ministers is very cautious. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that if the dialogue fails, the EU could, for example, apply a tax on the collection of digital advertising that would hit Meta to Google. It would also be a response to Big Tech's tax practices under accusation, such as non-payment of VAT.

Brussels has already made it clear that it does not intend to give in when it comes to legislation, regulation, consumer rights and privacy: protections that the United States considers discriminatory or, in Trump's words, forms of 'extortion'. The harshest attitude towards the tech giants has already manifested itself with the Digital Markets Act, which targeted their overwhelming power: last month the Commission accused Alphabet - Google's parent company - of violating it and admonished Apple. In the EU's arsenals there is also the Anti-coercion instrument that can delay licences, limit access to public contracts, impose restrictions on intellectual property, and block investments.