alt Hacker NewsI know this view is common in the US but the EU fines all kinds of companies - European and not - large amounts for various violations.
Just 3 days ago it was almost $500 million to various car manufacturers, the biggest piece to Volkswagen. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_...
In 2021 it was $900 million to Volkswagen and BMW https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/sv/ip_21_...
In 2019 it was $370 million to automotive suppliers: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/sk/ip_19_...
In 2016 it was $3 billion to truck manufacturers: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_16_...
That list keeps going. And these are just the EU actions. National governments have their own enforcement. Germany fines Volkswagen for another billion in 2018: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jun/13/vw-fined-1b...
Treating fines on US companies as a tariff means we should also count Volkswagen $4.3 billion fine for Dieselgate as a hidden tariff. Do you agree with that?
Yes, both Europe and the US fine companies.
But specifically when it comes to tech (which is overwhelmingly US companies), there is a massive imbalance. Tariffs are one mechanism by which that imbalance can be tilted.
"EU privacy regs are just laws you can choose to follow if you don't want to get fined!" Yes, and tariffs are laws you can choose to follow (by producing US market products in the US) if you don't want to get fined.
Again, US companies will also need to pay tariffs on imported goods, so it's not just targeted at EU companies. It's a tariff on geographic production.
I don't agree with much of this administrations policies, but to claim the EU hasn't created an imbalance in the way it extracts "fines" from US tech companies (and the incentives around that) doesn't reflect reality.
AGAIN, I don't agree that either the EU fines or US tariffs are a good idea. But the logic of using a tariff to correct this imbalance is sound.