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Silicon ValleyEUDSADMADMAEU EUDSA natoEUYour browser does not support the element. and the European Commission, the ’s executive arm, have a strained relationship. Regulators in Brussels blame American tech giants for everything from the struggles of European startups to teenage depression. American tech firms whinge that they are targeted by jealous Europeans. Now, after years of acrimony, a détente is possible. On December 1st a new commission took office.The previous commission policed America’s tech giants in various ways. It blocked takeovers it saw as anti-competitive, such as Amazon’s attempt to buy iRobot, a maker of robo-vacuums. And it introduced a thicket of new laws, including the Digital Services Act (), to regulate social media, the Digital Markets Act (), to keep tech firms from competing unfairly, and the Artificial Intelligence Act, to govern the use of the emerging technology. Rule-breakers can be hit with fines which, in the case of the , can reach a tenth or more of the firm’s global revenue.The new commission may do more of the same. Henna Virkkunen, a Finn, has been put in charge of tech. People in her team say they expect continuity, though the emphasis may shift from writing new laws to enforcing existing ones. Reining in big tech still seems popular with voters.Yet changing circumstances may require a new approach. One difference is that economic growth is back in focus. Last year Ursula von der Leyen, the commission’s returning president, asked Mario Draghi, a former head of the European Central Bank, to write a report on the continent’s waning competitiveness. The resulting tome pointed to Europe’s weakness in tech as a cause of its woes. Some recommendations that could also benefit American tech giants, including cutting red tape and boosting access to cloud infrastructure for Europe’s startups, were mentioned in the instructions Mrs von der Leyen issued to the new commissioners.Even more important is the re-election of Donald Trump, which may limit how much the commission can beat up American tech firms. The Biden administration shared Eurocrats’ wariness of Silicon Valley giants. That afforded a “wonderful” level of co-operation, as one official puts it, making it easier for the bloc to hit tech firms with fines and probes. Doing that under Mr Trump will be tougher, and may incur retaliation. In October Tim Cook, Apple’s boss, reportedlycalled Mr Trump and complained about fines, to which Mr Trump responded that he would not let Europe “take advantage of our companies”. During his first term Mr Trump was quick to propose tariffs on French goods, from handbags to champagne, in response to a proposed new tax on digital services, before a truce was agreed.Mr Trump could prove even more combative this time. One flashpoint will be the commission’s investigation into X, a social-media site run by Elon Musk, now a buddy of the president-elect. X allegedly failed to comply with a number of rules, such as providing data access for researchers. A decision will probably be made in the new year and could result in a fine of up to 6% of the firm’s global revenue. In September J.D. Vance, the incoming vice-president, seemed to suggest that America should withdraw support for in retaliation for European action against X. “American [military] power comes with certain strings attached,” he warned.There is reason, then, for Silicon Valley to hope for a reprieve from Brussels. But plenty of uncertainty remains. Some inside big tech worry that Europe might try to tilt the playing-field in favour of local firms. Others suspect that the is only paying lip service to a pro-growth agenda. The new commission may end up being kinder to America’s tech giants. But bosses are not breaking out the champagne just yet—even if it is, for now, still tariff-free.
