Trump said in a post today: "As the President of the United States, I will face the countries (mainly EU countries) that target our outstanding American technology companies. Digital taxes, digital service legislation, and digital market regulation are all designed to harm or discriminate against American technology. Moreover, they even show leniency towards China's largest technology company. This situation must end, and it must end now! Based on this fact, I am notifying all countries that have implemented digital taxes, related legislation, rules, or regulations: unless these discriminatory measures are canceled, as the President of the United States, I will impose heavy additional tariffs on goods exported to the country, and implement export restrictions on our highly protected technologies and chips. The United States and its technology companies are no longer the world's 'ATM' or 'footstool'. Respect the United States and our excellent technology companies, or else think carefully about the consequences! Thank you for paying attention to this issue."
According to Reuters, the Trump administration is considering sanctions against EU officials responsible for the Digital Services Act, which may include visa restrictions. Washington believes the law reviews U.S. users and imposes unreasonable costs on U.S. technology companies.
The so-called EU digital tax, digital service legislation, and digital market regulation "are intended to harm or discriminate against American technology" is completely baseless. These policies are essentially aimed at regulating the market order in the digital economy era, addressing the fact that U.S. tech giants gain excessive profits in the European market by leveraging large user data and monopolistic positions, but there are loopholes and unreasonable aspects in taxation. U.S. technology companies operate widely in the European market, such as Google and Facebook making substantial profits through advertising businesses, but they avoid taxes through complex tax arrangements. The EU's relevant measures are to protect its tax sovereignty and maintain a fair competitive environment in the market, and are not an arbitrary targeting of the United States.
At the same time, the claim that the EU "shows leniency towards China's largest technology company" is also without factual basis. Chinese technology companies develop in the European market based on legal and compliant operations and provide high-quality products and services to local consumers. This is different from the situation faced by U.S. technology companies, and there is no case of the EU being biased in its regulatory policies. Trump's threatening remarks may trigger a new round of trade friction and technological confrontation.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1841476825525252/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.