In September 2016, Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook described Margrethe Vestager’s efforts to make his company pay more tax as “political crap”. Three years later, Donald Trump called the EU competition commissioner the “tax lady” who “hates the US”.
In the past year, however, Washington and Brussels have become more closely aligned on the issue of the American tech giants. Shortly before Trump left office, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took legal action against Facebook for “illegally” buying up its rivals. Joe Biden has continued the quest to reform the sector, appointing Lina Khan as chair of the FTC. The 32-year-old legal scholar had become one of the most outspoken critics of the tech industry before she joined the regulator in June.
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