The White House has said European Commission fines on Apple and facebook owner Meta Platforms by the European Union were a “novel form of economic extortion” that the US would not tolerate.
Apple was fined €500 million April 23 and Meta €200 million, as EU anti-trust regulators handed out the first sanctions under landmark legislation aimed at curbing the power of Big Tech.
“This novel form of economic extortion will not be tolerated by the United States,” a White House spokesperson said.
“Extraterritorial regulations that specifically target and undermine American companies, stifle innovation, and enable censorship will be recognised as barriers to trade and a direct threat to free civil society.”
The fines were seen as a development that could stoke tensions between the EU and US President Donald Trump who has threatened to levy tariffs against countries that penalise US companies.
The White House called the legislation, the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), “discriminatory”.
The fines followed a year-long investigation by the EC into whether the companies complied with the DMA that sought to allow smaller rivals into markets dominated by the biggest companies.
On the same day, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said high tariffs between the US and China were not sustainable, as Trump signalled openness to de-escalating a trade war between the world’s two largest economies that had raised fears of recession.
Bessent said the tariffs – 145 per cent on Chinese products and 125 per cent on US products – would have to come down before trade talks could proceed but said Trump would not make that move unilaterally.
“Neither side believes that these are sustainable levels. As I said yesterday, this is the equivalent of an embargo and a break between the two countries in trade does not suit anyone’s interest,” Bessent told reporters.
The White House was open to discussing a significant rate cut on Chinese imports in order to advance negotiations with Beijing but would not do so alone, according to a person familiar with the conversations.
That person would not say how low the White House might be willing to go but The Wall Street Journal reported the figure could be as low as 50 per cent.
“We are going to have a fair deal with China,” Trump told reporters but did not outline any specifics.
That was at the same time he said a 25 per cent tariff imposed on cars imported from Canada to the US could go up.
“When I put tariffs on Canada – they’re paying 25 per cent – but that could go up, in terms of cars,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“All we’re doing is we’re saying, ‘We don’t want your cars, in all due respect. We want, really, to make our own cars.'”
