US will not tolerate EU fine against Apple, says White House
The White House has described the European Union's fining of Apple and Meta as extortion and called the Digital Markets Act discriminatory.
The White House -- image credit: White House
When the EU fined Apple $570 million for alleged non-compliance with its Digital Markets Act (DMA), it came after reports the Union was delaying its fines in order to appease Trump. It was also reported that the amount of the fine was far lower than the DMA allows, for the same reason.
It does not appear to have worked, however. Trump has yet to comment beyond his 2024 remarks about not letting the EU take advantage of US companies.
However, according to Reuters, the White House has specifically responded to the new fines.
"This novel form of economic extortion will not be tolerated by the United States," said a White House spokesperson. "Extraterritorial regulations that specifically target and undermine American companies, stifle innovation, and enable censorship will be recognized as barriers to trade and a direct threat to free civil society."
The White House also described the DMA as discriminatory. In this specific case, the EU claims that Apple has failed to fulfil its obligations toward App Store developers, and allowing them to direct buyers to alternative sources.
Announcing the fines on Apple and Meta, the EU's new antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said that the two companies had "fallen short." She said that the fines "send a strong and clear message... [The DMA] projects European consumers."
Apple is disputing the fine and reportedly plans to appeal. The EU's fines have previously appeared to be discriminatory against the US, with the European Commission repeatedly siding with EU-based Spotify over spurious complaints against its rival Apple Music.
Neither Apple nor the EU have responded to the White House's comments. It's not clear yet what the White House intends to do next.
Whether or not it actually steps in to deny the EU's fines, which are due in 60 days from the ruling, it is likely that the trade tensions between the US and Europe will continue to escalate. The EU has already described Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs as bullying, and insisted that it will not back down from fining Apple.
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Comments
Yes the US are very important for the whole world's economy, but there's limits to everything. We should stop this appeasing and just call out things what they are. The US government decided that diplomacy is no longer "in", so the rest of the world should not be trying to uphold principles towards the US that are not reciprocated.
A. Do as much damage to the U.S. and world economy as possible.
B. Stuff pockets with $$ from insider trading and corrupt/illegal financial dealings.
Whitehouse is right here IMO. Unless Epic, Nintendo, and third party app stores for iOS all reduce their own commissions to developers to zero as well, Pres. Trump has full right to raise EU tariffs to the amount to recover any illegal fines to US companies.
It is not fair that all other platform vendors can charge a platform fee commission while Apple is not allowed to do same to recover costs of development, support, and marketing. Core platform licensing fees can be negotiated to be on similar or even slightly lower than that of other platform vendors but it can not be zero.
Meanwhile US manufactured cars gain market share, gain advantages of scaling up volumes, drop in costs > positive feedback loop.
So yes, tariffs may be paid by US importers. But in the long run, it leads to reorienting of supply chains and jobs that go with it.
Lucky the White House is not a glass house...
It's just absurd that the 'sheriff' thinks he can point a finger and watch everyone bow down.
EU affairs are EU affairs. That's it. Any interference, if only in tone or messaging is unwelcome.
In two words its hypocritical overreach.
And as for extraterritorial regulations, the US really takes the biscuit here so complaining about that, apart from being incorrect, is even more absurd.
It's time the EU parked diplomacy for a few minutes and called out directly these efforts to interfere.
"Most auto suppliers are not capitalized for an abrupt tariff-induced disruption. Many are already in distress and will face production stoppages, layoffs and bankruptcy," the letter added, noting "it only takes the failure of one supplier to lead to a shutdown of an automaker’s production line."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/auto-industry-tells-trump-tariffs-221108768.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHRWOggzxw43tDKDrgTiV9DgDLelb-mgOTETqE-RXcyP_oKPgGUhrZ7ZzFItWUWaGddCUUPgA5rfPS6utB9_9OmNmeRX52uPHBGs7b-dcxnYyJdnYJqv6tK5eQwYQwEPzeqVOXCc-9WJTRK1fysik69Ugyk82sZY13CXkH7A6U_r
And remember, back in the Great Recession it was the Republican party that wanted to allow the U.S. auto industry to go bankrupt and be liquidated.
As for your pivot to extolling the protectionist virtues of tariffs, that's irrelevant to this case as well. $570 million is six one-hundredths of a percent of the value of EU goods imported into the US last year. Increasing tariffs to "recover" Apple's $570 million fine would have no perceptible protectionist impact on US goods competing with EU goods. Increasing tariffs to the point that it could have the effect you describe still means that the US consumer pays for it. They will either pay more for the imported item, or pay more for a "protected" US-made item. Alternatively, as will be the case for many things, US consumer will be unable to purchase many items at any price, because prohibitively high tariffs are already causing many US importers and retailers to simply cancel import orders entirely, even as there are no US-made alternatives to replace them, and no viable way to start making them here at any point in the near to mid-term future.
This so-called "law" known as the DMA, and the regulatory bodies "enforcing" it, is not actually law at all. What it is is a purported "legal" framework that erodes the very concept of law in a way that leads to lawlessness. Much is talked about the "spirit of the law" in regard to the DMA, but that's not how law works. Law works according to the letter of the law, and anything that depends on "spirit" is not actually law.
Something as nebulous as "spirit" isn't law because laws must clearly state what they mean. How can anyone know if they are following the law, or breaking it, if the laws is so ill defined as to depend entirely on the "interpretation" that regulators choose to give it. Even in announcing these fines against Apple, they haven't said exactly how Apple "violated" the law, nor exactly how they could be in compliance. Instead there is hand waving verbiage that states Apple hasn't done enough and isn't in compliance, but nothing at all on what compliance would actually look like. How could anyone know if they are compliant if they don't know what compliance is? It's like posting a sign, "Speed Limit", with no indication of what that limit is but telling motorists that they must follow the spirit of the speed limit.
No, this "law" and its "enforcement" depend entirely on the whims of the regulators. Are these really the kinds of "laws" you want in the EU? "Laws" where the meaning of the "law" is whatever the authorities decide it is and you can never know if you are following or breaking it? "Laws" that can change whenever new people begin "enforcing" them? Sure, a lot of you don't care, or even think it's great, because this "law" is being used right now to target American companies. As a European, it won't affect you, right? But, who knows what the future may bring and "regulators" decide to turn "laws" like this against you. Perhaps right now there are no other "laws" like this, but there may well be more, and who knows whom they may target? You are creating a model where a pretense for law replaces real laws with entirely subjective "rules" that are whatever those in charge want them to be.
To paraphrase: First they came for the American tech companies, and I did not speak out because I was not an American tech company. I'm sure you know the reference, and this is where you are heading.
The Trump Administration is the most extornist Administration in American history. For them to call the EU simply enforcing their laws (that are disadvantageous to American companies) extortion is just hilarious.
Or, are you arguing that two wrongs make a right?
The European Union is making a mistake by not attempting to establish an environment conducive to company growth, akin to the early Silicon Valley. This region boasts nearby schools, research labs, infrastructure, and a relatively open society in California, which contribute to its success. However, dictating competition is not a sustainable strategy in the long run.