Friday

29th Mar 2024

EU anti-trust chief 'hates' US, Trump says

  • Competition commisioner Margrethe Vestager ordered injunction on Broadcom's 'exclusivity contracts' (Photo: Tambako the Jaguar)

US president Donald Trump has accused EU anti-trust chief Margrethe Vestager of "hating" the US after she opened a case against another American tech giant.

"You have a woman in Europe [Vestager], I won't mention her name ... she hates the United States perhaps worse than any person I've ever met," Trump said on a talk show by the Fox News broadcaster on Wednesday (26 June).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • US president Donald Trump (r) with outgoing European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker

"What she does to our country. She's suing all our companies ... They [the EU] are suing Apple for billions of dollars. They're suing everybody," he added.

"They make it almost impossible to do two-way business," he said.

He spoke after Vestager earlier the same day in Brussels accused US microchip-maker Broadcom of breaking EU rules.

"We suspect that Broadcom ... has put in place contractual restrictions to exclude its competitors from the market," she said.

"This would prevent Broadcom's customers and, ultimately, final consumers from reaping the benefits of choice and innovation," she added.

Her complaint alleges Broadcom forced modem and TV set-top box makers to buy its components under "exclusivity contracts" and Vestager is seeking to freeze the agreements "to avoid ... risk of serious and irreparable harm to competition".

The US company denied wrongdoing, saying "it complies with European competition rules" and "the commission's concerns are without merit".

The Broadcom case comes after Vestager went after US tech giant Apple, software firm Google, and chip-maker Qualcomm in recent years.

She forced Apple to repay €14bn in state aid. She fined Google €8bn for abusing online dominance and she fined Qualcomm €1bn.

The Danish liberal has made her name on the world stage as the EU's iron lady and is in the running to be the next European Commission president.

EU regulators have also voiced concern on data privacy at Google and US social media giant Facebook.

And a French consumer group, UFC Que Choisir, filed a lawsuit in Paris against Google also on Wednesday, opening up a new front.

The group wants Google to pay €1,000 each to 200 users who say it violated their rights under the general data protection regulation, a landmark EU law.

The US firm said: "We have high standards for transparency and consent [on use of private data] based on both guidance from regulators and robust user testing".

But the symbolic fine could become huge if a Paris court ruling paves the way for millions of other users to go after the company.

The trouble in the tech sector comes amid broader EU-US friction on free trade after Trump imposed tariffs on some EU exports.

It also comes amid a general slump in US relations after Trump walked away from other EU-brokered deals on nuclear arms control and climate and verbally mauled Europe and its leaders on several occasions.

Trump added on Fox News on Wednesday that something ought to be done to curb the tech firms' growing power, however.

"We should be suing Google and Facebook, and all that, which perhaps we will," he said, claiming a US prerogative to regulate US firms.

Online retailer Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google "should be sued", Trump said.

US and EU breaking taboos to restrain Israel

The US abstained and all EU states on the UN Security Council backed a call for an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza, as Europe prepares to also blacklist extremist Israeli settlers.

EU warns Russia over Moscow terror attacks

Europe has warned Russia not to use the weekend's terror attacks in Moscow as a pretext to escalate its war in Ukraine and crackdown on internal dissent.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us