Trump blasts EU regulators over €14bn Apple tax case
Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos this week by video link, the newly re-elected President said the cases taken in the EU against companies like Apple, Google and Meta amounted to a "form of taxation."
US President Donald Trump has heavily criticised the EU for targeting US companies while specifically focusing on the €14bn Apple tax case.
Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos this week by video link, the newly re-elected President said the cases taken in the EU against companies like Apple, Google and Meta amounted to a "form of taxation."
He said the EU "supposedly" won a tax case against Apple which "lots of people didn't think was much of a case."
Europe's highest court last year ruled against tech giant Apple in its final legal bid against a €13bn tax order which the European Commission said it must pay back to Ireland. The Court of Justice in Luxembourg backed a landmark 2016 decision that Ireland broke state-aid law by giving Apple an unfair advantage, requiring Ireland to claw back the money that had been sitting in an escrow account pending the final ruling.
Apple transferred the funds to the Irish exchequer last year which boosted the state's tax revenues to €46.4bn in the third quarter, which was €17.6bn higher than in the same period in 2023.
In his speech, Trump also referred to cases taken against American tech companies here over a range of issues, many of which resulted in fines. Given most US tech companies have based their European headquarters in Ireland, the Data Protection Commission (DPC) has been responsible for most of these fines.
“These are American companies whether you like it or not,” Trump said. “They shouldn’t be doing that. That’s, as far as I’m concerned, a form of taxation. We have some very big complaints with the EU.”
Trump’s comments mark the beginning of a long-anticipated clash between Trump and the EU over the bloc’s big tech crackdown. Apple, Google, Meta and the X platform owned by Trump confidant Elon Musk may all be facing billions in fines — or even mandatory divestment orders — from dozens of separate ongoing EU investigations.
Analysis by DLA Piper shows €1.2bn in fines issued across Europe last year for breaches of GDPR rules.
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) issued fines of €310m against LinkedIn and €215m against Meta in 2024 and is responsible for enforcing more than half of the total GDPR fines in the EU.
Trump’s relationships with US tech has been complex. He has publicly feuded with Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and Google, but he’s had a closer relationship with Apple CEO Tim Cook. Musk is now a fixture of his inner circle and other tech executives have improved relations with him.
Musk, Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos and Zuckerberg were all seated prominently behind the Trump family for his swearing-in on Monday. Also spotted in the crowd were Alphabet co-founder Sergey Brin and Cook.
In 2024, Google faced its fourth abuse of dominance case in the EU, Apple was hit with a €1.8bn penalty for blocking music streaming apps from informing users of cheaper deals and Meta was slapped with a €798m fine for tying its Facebook Marketplace service to the social network.
All three companies are also being subjected to ongoing investigations under the EU’s Digital Markets Act — which has the power to levy fines of as high as 10% of global annual revenue for violations. The rules set out dos and don’ts for the world’s most powerful tech platforms - all of them American.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
