EU answer to Trump tariffs may involve data use by big tech, says France

We have several tools at our disposal at the European level: regulatory, fiscal, customs, said French Finance Minister Eric Lombard

By Benoit Berthelot

 

The European Union’s response to US tariffs could include regulating the use of data by American big tech groups, France’s finance minister said in an interview with the JDD newspaper.

 

“We have several tools at our disposal at the European level: regulatory, fiscal, customs,” Eric Lombard said in the interview published late Saturday. “For example, we can strengthen certain environmental requirements or regulate the use of data by certain digital players,” he added. 

 

President Donald Trump announced on April 2 broad tariffs on imports into the US, including 20 per cent duties on EU goods, as part of his efforts to shake up the global trading system. The bloc — the US’s largest trading partner — has vowed to retaliate with countermeasures if needed, including with its own tariffs, taxing services and targeting American tech firms. 

 

Lombard said EU rules also allow for taxes on certain American activities, with all the options remaining open and under discussion. He didn’t detail how data usage by big tech groups could be strengthened. Data collection and processing is already regulated by EU rules like the far-reaching GDPR.

 

The European response to US tariffs should “inevitably” have “consequences” for both the continent’s and US companies, Lombard said. “It is not a question of taxing all American imports, that would be counterproductive, penalizing our economy as much as theirs,” he told the newspaper. “So we are going to target certain industrial segments, in a precise manner.”

 

Lombard stressed that he still sees a possibility for tariffs to be lifted through negotiations. “If we reach a balanced agreement within a reasonable time frame, it will be a confidence factor” for French companies and households, he said.