International Observation | Transatlantic Friction Continues, Europe Seeks Path to Breakthrough in Digital Sovereignty

In the past period, the European Union and the United States have frequently clashed over digital sovereignty. The United States will impose visa restrictions on several European digital sovereignty advocates by the end of 2025, escalating the dispute from a policy level tug of war to pressure on individuals.

Analysts point out that as we enter 2026, Europe will face increasing political and economic pressures from across the Atlantic, as well as internal weaknesses such as relatively weak digital industries and infrastructure. Under internal and external difficulties, Europe's willingness to strengthen digital sovereignty is facing a severe test. How to make up for the shortcomings by adjusting policies has become a realistic challenge facing the EU.

The friction between the United States and Europe has escalated into a 'tooth for tooth' confrontation

On December 23, 2025, the US State Department issued a notice imposing visa restrictions on five European nationals, including former European Commission member Thierry Breton, prohibiting them from entering the United States. Breton began serving as a member of the European Commission responsible for the internal market in 2019 and resigned in September 2024. He stated that the United States' refusal to issue visas to five people, including him, was a "political persecution".

This round of escalation of tension is just over two weeks after the EU made its first "non-compliance decision" under the Digital Services Act. On December 5, 2025, the European Commission fined the social media platform X, owned by American entrepreneur Elon Musk, 120 million euros under the bill.

In recent years, the European Union has been impacted by the expansion of American digital giants, and the dispute between Europe and the United States over digital sovereignty has become increasingly prominent. The EU is accelerating the implementation of regulations related to the digital industry and frequently carrying out enforcement actions against American technology companies. For example, in April 2025, the European Union found that Apple and the metaverse platform violated the Digital Markets Act and imposed fines of 500 million euros and 200 million euros respectively on the two companies; In September 2025, the European Union imposed an anti-monopoly fine of 2.95 billion euros on Google for its violations in the advertising related field and required it to submit a rectification plan.

The United States has repeatedly accused the European Union's digital regulatory policies of being unfair to American technology companies. At the end of August 2025, US President Trump threatened on the "real social" platform to impose "additional tariffs" on countries that "harm or discriminate against American technology companies".

Nicolas Petit, a professor of competition law at European university law schools, recently stated in an interview with Xinhua News Agency that this dispute has become a geopolitical game. We are in a 'tit for tat' battle, "he said.

The Achilles' heel of European digital sovereignty

In this game, Europe has already started from a 'weak position'. Analysts point out that Europe's dependence on external factors is evident in several key areas of the digital economy, with relatively weak infrastructure and industrial capabilities. These endogenous weaknesses constitute its Achilles heel in promoting digital sovereignty.

A report released by the US market research firm Synergy Research Group in 2025 shows that European cloud infrastructure providers have only about 15% of the domestic market share, while American tech giants such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have become the main beneficiaries of European cloud computing growth with their huge investment scales, leaving European competitors facing an "almost impossible mountain to climb". Miguel de Bruick, the head of the Belgian Cybersecurity Center, recently told the media that due to American companies dominating Europe's digital infrastructure, it is currently impossible to store data entirely in Europe.

In the field of artificial intelligence, Europe also lacks advantages that match its ambitions. Charlotte de Montpellier, Senior Economist at Dutch International Group, believes that the number of local artificial intelligence models in Europe is limited, and they are clearly lagging behind the United States and China in innovation and deployment.

In the chip industry, Europe is also facing constraints. The European Audit Group, the EU's auditing body, released a report in April 2025 stating that although the EU has attempted to inject new momentum into the microchip industry through the Chip Act in recent years, it is still "highly unlikely" to achieve its "Digital Decade" goal of accounting for at least 20% of global advanced and sustainable semiconductor production by 2030.

Angela Garcia Calvo, assistant professor at Henley Business School at the University of Reading in the UK, pointed out in an interview with Xinhua News Agency that Europe only occupies a very limited position in most aspects of the digital technology stack. "Europe can enact regulatory measures, but in areas that rely on others, it is difficult to truly establish standards.

EU adjusts its strategy to enhance competitiveness

Under pressure from the US, the EU has begun to adjust its relevant strategies and prioritize "filling gaps". The European Commission is expected to launch a formal project solicitation for the EU's "Artificial Intelligence Super Factory" in 2026. Member states or relevant institutions can submit construction plans for the EU to select, promoting plans to build up to five large computing centers within the EU.

In the field of cloud computing, the EU is also attempting to enhance its autonomy. The European Commission plans to formally propose the "Cloud and Artificial Intelligence Development Act" in 2026, with the goal of increasing EU data center capacity to three times its current level within the next 5 to 7 years.

Pettit believes that these measures indicate that the EU has realized that seeking digital sovereignty requires local technological capabilities and an innovation driven economy as support, but he also believes that implementing this vision is not an easy task. It is very difficult to concretize a competitive technology industry vision because we lack the necessary economic tools and resources

In November 2025, the European Commission proposed a reform proposal to adjust digital and technology regulation, mainly relaxing regulations such as the Artificial Intelligence Act and the General Data Protection Regulation to enhance European competitiveness. These bills are considered by some European companies to increase compliance costs and affect their innovation vitality. These reform measures are seen as a policy "burden reduction" by the EU in an attempt to enhance competitiveness. Some argue that the EU's move is intended to send a signal of stabilizing relations with the United States, but such easing measures are difficult to address the structural roots of transatlantic friction.