Von der Leyen stands by EU tech rules amid Trump threats

Europe won’t compromise on its right to regulate American Big Tech companies despite threats by President Donald Trump, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.

“I want to be crystal clear on one point: whether on environmental or digital regulation, we set our own standards, we set our own regulations,” von der Leyen said during her annual State of the Union address in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

In late August, just a week after the EU and the U.S. had finished their trade deal, Trump had threatened the EU’s landmark rules on content moderation and digital competition, the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, and tech taxes.

These are “designed to harm” U.S. technology, and he threatened to impose tariffs on countries that have them.

Previously, top Commission officials, such as Executive Vice Presidents Stéphane Séjourné and Teresa Ribera, had said that the EU should review the trade deal if Trump followed up on his threat.

The U.S. administration has pressured the EU for many months to tone down enforcement of its tech laws ranging from social media laws to privacy rules and more.