The European Union may be ready to budge on its digital agenda as Donald Trump holds a tariff hammer over Brussels’ head. Some lawmakers are calling it a dangerous surrender.
For months, EU officials stood firm: the bloc’s flagship digital rulebook, including its laws on data flows, AI, and platform regulation, was not up for negotiation. But on Monday, that stance appeared to soften. Amid frantic back-channel talks with U.S. trade officials, the European Commission admitted that “nothing is off the table.” That was a first — and it didn’t go unnoticed.
Trump’s Tariff Threat Changes the Equation
Trump’s threat is more than a bluff. The former president, and current Republican frontrunner, has vowed to impose a 50% blanket tariff on all EU goods starting July 9 unless Brussels makes concessions. The ultimatum has upended the tone of talks.
The EU’s focus had been on forging alignment with Washington on digital taxation and AI governance. That agenda is now taking a backseat to blunt-force trade politics.
Two Commission sources familiar with the talks confirmed that the EU is weighing partial revisions to the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and cross-border data transfer frameworks.
One source said, “We’re not tearing up the rulebook, but if a few pages need to be reworded to protect European industry, that’s a conversation we’re now willing to have.”
A Sharp Rebuttal from Parliament
That shift triggered fierce criticism from lawmakers in Strasbourg.
Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, a French MEP with the Renew Europe group, blasted the Commission’s comments as an “unacceptable capitulation.”
“Europe should not sacrifice its democratic digital standards at the altar of Trump’s trade blackmail,” she said in a statement. “These rules are meant to protect European citizens, not to be auctioned off in transatlantic bargaining.”
German Green MEP Alexandra Geese echoed the concerns. “Once you start negotiating your principles under pressure, you set a precedent that will haunt every future negotiation.”
The backlash underscores the tightrope Brussels is walking — appease Trump and anger Parliament, or hold firm and risk an all-out trade war.
Digital Sovereignty in the Crosshairs
At the center of the storm is Europe’s push for digital sovereignty.
The EU’s digital rulebook — from the DMA to the Digital Services Act (DSA) — seeks to rein in Big Tech dominance and assert control over data governance. It’s been championed as a model for the democratic regulation of tech.
But U.S. officials — and Silicon Valley giants — have long viewed those laws as protectionist.
Trump’s camp reportedly wants Brussels to “suspend enforcement” of certain DMA provisions targeting U.S. firms like Apple, Google, and Amazon. That includes restrictions on self-preferencing and requirements for app store sideloading.
The European Commission had previously insisted those measures were non-negotiable. Monday’s shift suggests that line may be thinning.
Business on Edge as Clock Ticks
EU industry leaders are watching the transatlantic standoff with rising unease.
A 50% tariff on European exports — from cars to wine to luxury fashion — could trigger layoffs, slow growth, and spike inflation in key EU economies. Germany and France, in particular, would be hit hard.
The European Round Table for Industry (ERT), a group of CEOs from Europe’s largest companies, warned in a private memo last week that “digital regulatory compromise” may be the lesser evil.
“We must ask whether preserving our digital ideals is worth triggering economic retaliation that could damage millions of jobs,” the memo stated.
A Test of Brussels’ Nerve
The coming weeks will test whether the EU can balance economic pragmatism with its commitment to tech governance.
Negotiators are working around the clock, hoping to extract concessions from Washington without rewriting foundational law.
Meanwhile, European citizens — whose privacy and online rights these laws were designed to protect — are largely in the dark.
For Brussels, the question isn’t just what gets traded — but at what cost.
