Trump returned Big Tech’s kiss at Davos

All the countries of the world are eagerly waiting for the return of Donald Trump. As Trump resumed his White House duties this week, the new president also spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where his foreign policy goals began to emerge. First order of business? Declaring (economic) war on Europe, I guess.

When questioned about his stance on the European Union in Davos, Trump took the opportunity to blast America’s allies for having the audacity to punish US tech companies for breaking the law.

“They took their case with Apple and apparently won a case that a lot of people didn’t think was a case,” Trump said. “They earned 15 or 16 billion from Apple. They made billions from Google. I think they’re after billions and billions of Facebook. These are American companies, like it or not. They are American companies and they shouldn’t be doing this. As for me, this is a form of taxation.”

“We have huge complaints with the EU,” Trump concluded, doubling down on his complaint plans to impose large tariffs to European countries if they refuse to buy American-made products.

Unlike America – here the legislative body of the government has been mainly chosen by special interests intended to regulate—Europe has a relatively functional legislature that sometimes serves the public interest. In recent years, the EU has adopted a number of important draft laws set rules that make sense on US tech platforms that dominate the internet. So Trump is right: Europe is hitting American tech platforms with huge fines for violating those established laws. Apple was recently fined $2.7 billion by EU regulators, and Meta was fined nearly $840 million for antitrust violations. Apple also currently owes Ireland something $14 billion in back taxes. Various regulatory probes access to tech giants continues, and it’s plausible that more fines are on the horizon.

Now, with Trump back in the White House thanks in part to money from Silicon Valley, the big tech platforms currently suffering from European regulatory scrutiny are justified in wanting it to end. As tech CEOs square off with the president, that’s what companies like Apple, Meta and Amazon are hoping for.

However, the MAGA movement and its various allies have attempted it invade and rebuild Europe almost ten years. Right-wing libertarian organizations associated with Trump have long attempted this Develop relationships with European leadersan attempt to inform their policies and push traditionally leftist governments further to the right.

During the first Trump administration, MAGA aide Steve Bannon traveled to Europe to bring his “populist” style politics to the Old World. To do this, Bannon bought an old Italian monastery and turned it into what he called a place “gladiator school” or, more dramatically, “an academy for the Judeo-Christian West.” The idea was that the monastery would serve as a breeding ground for political parties that could sweep away the established order in Europe and usher in a new kind of right-wing politics. Bannon expressed his longing The desire to destroy the EU, he claimed that he wanted to fight for the common man, European identity and, of course, the free market.

Despite the theatrics, Bannon’s efforts have been mostly unsuccessful. Some of the political parties that emerged as part of the Bannon “movement”. they broke up and closing Bannon’s “gladiator” monastery didn’t do much good With ongoing litigation and legal challenges.

In recent months, Elon Musk has tried to replace Bannon and use X, a global propaganda platform, to plant his own, extraordinarily stupid policies in Europe. Like Bannon’s efforts, Musk’s campaign appears to have (mostly) failed. As a result of a recent survey, it became clear that in Great Britain, where Musk constantly attacks the country’s prime minister, the tech billionaire was no more popular than Meghan Markle. Another poll showed Musk’s popularity It is quite low in Germanywhere he was trying to promote a far-right political party associated with neo-Nazis.