The European Union’s response to US tariffs might embody regulating using information by American huge tech teams, France’s finance minister mentioned in an interview with the JDD newspaper.
“We have several tools at our disposal at the European level: regulatory, fiscal, customs,” Eric Lombard mentioned within the interview revealed 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 introduced on April 2 broad tariffs on imports into the US, together with 20% duties on EU items, as a part of his efforts to shake up the worldwide buying and selling system. The bloc — the US’s largest buying and selling accomplice — has vowed to retaliate with countermeasures if wanted, together with with its personal tariffs, taxing providers and concentrating on American tech corporations.
Lombard mentioned EU guidelines additionally permit for taxes on sure American actions, with all of the choices remaining open and beneath dialogue. He didn’t element how information utilization by huge tech teams may very well be strengthened. Knowledge assortment and processing is already regulated by EU guidelines just like the far-reaching GDPR.
Learn Extra: France Eyes US Massive Tech in EU Retaliation to Trump’s Tariffs
The European response to US tariffs ought to “inevitably” have “consequences” for each the continent’s and US corporations, Lombard mentioned. “It is not a question of taxing all American imports, that would be counterproductive, penalizing our economy as much as theirs,” he informed the newspaper. “So we are going to target certain industrial segments, in a precise manner.”
Lombard confused that he nonetheless sees a risk for tariffs to be lifted via negotiations. “If we reach a balanced agreement within a reasonable time frame, it will be a confidence factor” for French corporations and households, he mentioned.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
