Apple and Meta Catch a Break — EU Allegedly Hits Pause on Digital Tax

There are many American companies that have operations set up in Europe. As such, they are expected to follow local laws and regulations. Unfortunately, the EU has gone after many of these companies for a myriad of reasons. However, now it looks like the EU could be backing off on a plan to introduce digital tax.

EU backs of digital tax plan

According to the reports, the EU is expected to walk back on its plan to implement taxes against digital companies. This includes US companies such as Apple and Meta. The initial plan for the tax was a way for the EU to help pay off some of the bloc’s debt, but now officials are considering walking it back.

The reason is simple: the EU wants to curry favor with the US government. More specifically, it wants to land a more favorable trade deal with the Trump administration, which is imposing tariffs on countries all around the world. The amount of the tariffs will differ from region to region. 

Certain things are taken into consideration. Such as whether or not the country is an ally, and how well it can negotiate with the US government. The EU could also be learning from Canada, which planned to implement its own digital taxes, but was later threatened with tariffs by the Trump administration.

Trump should be happy

If EU officials were to really walk back its plans, it could make the Trump administration pretty happy. During the early days of his second term, Trump criticized EU officials for seemingly targeting US companies with investigations.

This included investigations against Apple and Meta for a variety of reasons, such as failing to pay taxes or alleged violations of the GDPR or DMA laws. This doesn’t mean that US companies are free from the eyes of EU regulators, but dropping plans for digital tax could at least pave the way for slightly more favorable terms.

Nothing is guaranteed yet so we’ll have to wait and see. The EU’s finalized proposal for its 2028-2035 budget is scheduled to be published on Wednesday.