The European Union is expected to move ahead with plans to slap fines on US Big Tech giants – even as President Trump pressed pause on a Transatlantic trade war, The Post has learned.
Officials at the 27-nation trade bloc could unveil punitive sums levied against Meta and Apple for alleged antitrust behavior in the coming days, although the timing is fluid and could change based on developments, sources familiar with the matter told The Post.
On Wednesday afternoon, Trump made a surprise U-turn on his so-called “reciprocal tariffs” that he revealed on April 2, declaring a 90-day pause on the punishing taxes. White House insiders said the delay applies to the EU, which had faced a 20% levy on all exports to the US.
Nevertheless, senior EU officials told The Post they would not cut special deals with the US on tech, even if it would stave off the looming threat of massive tariffs on European products.
“This legal assessment and tariffs are two completely separate processes,” said one source close to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
As The Post exclusively reported last month, sources close to the situation expected Meta’s fine to reach hundreds of millions of dollars, if not more than $1 billion.
The potential size of a fine against Apple remains a question mark ahead of the EU’s announcement. However, sources familiar with the situation insist the fines are likely to be modest as Brussels looks to avoid Trump’s ire in the middle of the sensitive trade talks.
One senior European Commission source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, insisted Trump’s 90-day pause would not sway EU regulators.
“The DMA is a law that’s in place, and we need to enforce it. We have it to protect our consumers, and it applies to all companies,” the official said.
Earlier this week, White House trade advisor Peter Navarro raised hackles over “the use of lawfare in places like the EU to target America’s largest tech firms” in an op-ed in the Financial Times.
Navarro lashed out at “the barrage of non-tariff weapons” used by the bloc. He said they were “even worse” than heavy levies slapped on US products, which he claimed were a bid to “wall off their own markets.”
When asked about the DMA during a Wednesday hearing on Capitol Hill, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Trump would not allow the EU “or any other jurisdiction set the rules for digital trade.”
The EU’s von der Leyen has identified action against Big Tech as one of the “cards” the bloc could play to retaliate against Trump’s tariffs. Other European lawmakers argue that tech regulation should proceed regardless of trade talks and should not be used as a bargaining chip.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been lobbying the White House for help in a bid to water down the fines or nix them entirely.
EU officials are also expected to hit Meta with a “cease-and-desist” notice, essentially telling the company what it must change to get into compliance.
Meta and Apple are each accused of violating the sweeping Digital Markets Act, or DMA, which imposes strict competition rules on so-called internet gatekeepers.
The European Commission, the Brussels-based organization that has sole authority for EU trade and antitrust policy, can fine tech companies up to 10% of their global turnover for noncompliance with the DMA.
As a matter of practice, the levies for alleged rule breaches imposed by the EU’s executive branch in recent years have reached as high as 3% of company revenue. The Commission also drafts the rules for trade inside its so-called single market,
The biggest fine ever imposed by the EU on a US tech firm was its $4.5 billion penalty against Google in 2018 for violations related to its Android operating system. Google is still challenging that fine in court. Last year, the EU fined Apple about $2 billion for alleged illegal practices raised in a complaint by Spotify. Neither case was brought under the DMA.
Firms in the firing line can appeal, but they face a lengthy legal battle before they can clear their name in the EU courts.
Meta is accused of “forcing customers into a restrictive ‘pay or consent’ model for ads on Instagram and Facebook.”
It told users in Europe in 2023 that they could either consent to personalized advertising or pay a monthly subscription to remove them.
Tim Cook’s Apple faces separate charges of preventing rival app developers from quickly steering customers to services outside its App Store.
“While they dress it up as antitrust action, it’s really a hatred of American firms and free speech,” Danish lawmaker Anders Vistisen, a member of the European Parliament, told The Post.
The DMA first took effect in 2023, which labels a string of dominant tech titans, nearly all of them from the US, as gatekeepers.
The list includes Meta, Apple, Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, Booking.com, TikTok parent ByteDance, and Microsoft.
EU regulators claim the law aims to stop these companies from crushing smaller competitors.
In February, Trump described the EU’s Big Tech fines as “overseas extortion” that “are designed to plunder American companies.”
“This is not just about fines – it’s about the Commission seeking to handicap successful American businesses simply because they’re American, while letting Chinese and European rivals off the hook,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.
Apple did not return The Post’s request for comment.
Earlier this week, Von der Leyen said the bloc is willing to shift to a “zero-for-zero” tariff deal with the US.
But the European Commission chief teed up further retaliatory tariffs on US goods if the two sides cannot agree.
The EU also has its so-called ‘trade bazooka’ that it has never used: the bloc’s Anti-Coercion Instrument, which is loosely based on the 1974 US Trade Act.
It can only be used after a vote by EU governments, but it would grant the European Commission wide-ranging powers to limit US trade in Europe.
They include export controls, restricting intellectual property rights, curtailing foreign investments, or banning some American services.
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