The immediate focus of the incoming Trump presidency is the threat of tariffs on the US’s main trading partners and conflicts on tax. However, these are not the only threats stemming from Trump’s presidency. He has pledged a “bonfire of regulation” and this is one of the main reasons that many of the key figures in the tech industry are embracing the new administration with alacrity.
Elon Musk was the first mover in this respect, but Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos have joined him, among many others, as was shown at the inauguration ceremony. The transactional nature of this support was clearly evident when Zuckerberg announced that Meta is dropping its fact-checking functions in the US as it “amounted to censorship.” The Meta chief executive renewed his criticism of the EU for being allegedly over-regulated. The expectation is that Trump will pressure Brussels to dilute its regulation of the tech sector. perhaps threatening tariffs if this does not happen.
If social media platforms become wholly unmediated, it will accelerate the flow of misinformation and disinformation to the point where it threatens the democratic foundations of member states. The EU must resist this pressure.
President Trump has also pledged to row back on many of the regulations covering the financial sector. It is important to note that many of these rules were introduced in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to try to guard against any repeat. Again, the EU must resist pressure to loosen financial rules on these terms.
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Regulation and speed of movement in many areas in the EU do need to be reexamined and reformed, as highlighted in the recent report by former ECB president Mario Draghi.
However, the EU must work to its own agenda, rather than letting regulatory moves be dictated from Washington. The EU will shortly outline its own programme focusing on competitiveness and cutting red tape and, as European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said this week in Davos, is determined to push forward with this.
