EU officials are continuing to negotiate with the US on trade despite the European Union imposing €700 million in fines on American tech giants.
Earlier this week, the European Commission decided to fine Apple €500 million and Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, €200 million, for breaches of the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Donald Trump, has previously complained that the EU treats American tech giants unfairly. The European Commission now risks the wrath of the US President.
The investigations into Meta and Apple were supposed to have been concluded weeks ago.
The publication of the fines finally came just after the Easter weekend, and following the death of the Pope.
The European Commission said Apple should have allowed app developers to “inform customers, free of charge, of alternative offers outside the App Store, steer them to those offers and allow them to make purchases.”
“The Commission found that Apple fails to comply with this obligation. Due to a number of restrictions imposed by Apple, app developers cannot fully benefit from the advantages of alternative distribution channels outside the App Store.”
The EU has order Apple to remove the technical and commercial restrictions and fined the company half a billion Euro.
Meanwhile, Meta is accused of forcing consumers to accept personalised ads or pay a subscription. The company imposed the rules in March last year.
“The Commission found that this model is not compliant with the DMA, as it did not give users the required specific choice to opt for a service that uses less of their personal data but is otherwise equivalent to the ‘personalised ads’ service.”
The EU said this amounts to a breach of the Digital Markets Act.
In November 2024, Meta introduced a new system. The European Commission is still analysing whether the latest changes are in line with the DMA. The EU’s €200 million fine therefore only covers March to November 2024.
Apple and Meta both contest the European Commission’s decisions and the fines imposed.
The centre-left Socialist and Democrats group in the European Parliament said they hoped that the European Commission would go after Elon Musk’s X and Chinese firm TikTok next.
The centre-right EPP group meanwhile argues that American, not just European, consumers will benefit from the fines.
“European consumers have always been open to using US services… [these fines imposed by the European Commission] will further expand their choice. This will also benefit the US economy,” German MEP, Andreas Schwab said.
Despite the latest friction the fines creates in EU-US relations, the European Commission’s trade spokesperson today insisted that trade talks are continuing to try and convince the US to drop tariffs.
“Technical level contact continues. Political level contact will resume at the moment that it is necessary and advantageous”, spokesperson, Olof Gill, said.
Donald Trump and the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, have still not formally met since Trump took up office for his second term.
Both are at the Pope’s funeral today.