For a while, it looked like President Donald Trump was going to have Big Techâs back.
Now, the tech industry is collateral damage in his global trade war.
On Thursday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen floated the idea of placing âa levy on the advertising revenues of digital servicesâ if tariff negotiations with the US go south. This would be the opposite outcome that tech CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg were hoping for when they threw their support behind the new administration.
To someone like Zuckerberg, Trump was supposed to be the strong-armed leader to bring the overbearing EU to heel. Instead, the rhetoric between the US and EU is ratcheting up just weeks before the EU is already set to fine Meta (and Apple) for violating its Digital Markets Act.
While certainly more of a self-inflicted wound, Elon Muskâs popularity in the US has âinverted as his support for President Trump has increased,â Nate Silver wrote this week. Teslaâs stock price, meanwhile. has lost over a third of its value this year, and, thanks to tariffs, the company has removed the option to buy new, US-made vehicles in China.
As I predicted last week, TikTok is particularly s …