Microsoft President Brad Smith speaks during signing ceremony of cooperation agreement between the Polish Ministry of Defence and Microsoft, in Warsaw, Poland, February 17, 2025.
Kacper Pempel | Reuters
Microsoft President Brad Smith says the U.S. tech giant is committed to respecting European laws — even though it may not always agree with them.
“Like every citizen and company, we don’t always agree with every policy of every government. But even when we’ve lost cases in European courts, Microsoft has long respected and complied with European laws,” Smith said in a blog post Wednesday.
Smith’s comments are part of a charm offensive Microsoft is making in Europe this week, after tensions between the United States and European Union ratcheted up in recent weeks over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Trump’s trade war with U.S. trading partners — including the European Union, China and others — has raised fears that the EU could use its regulatory crackdown on America’s technology giants as a tool to counter trade restrictions.
The EU has for years been trying to tame U.S. Big Tech firms over competition issues. The bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which became enforceable last year, aims to tackle the market power of large so-called “gatekeeper” firms such as Google, Apple, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft.
Last week, the European Commission — the executive body of the EU — fined Apple 500 million euros ($568.5 million) and Meta 200 million euros ($227.4 million) for DMA breaches.
“We understand that European laws apply to our business practices in Europe, just as local laws apply to local practices in the United States and similar laws apply elsewhere in the world. This includes European competition law and the Digital Markets Act, among others,” Smith said Wednesday.
“We’re committed not only to building digital infrastructure for Europe, but to respecting the role that laws across Europe play in regulating our products and services.”
Trump has previously cited the EU’s regulatory actions against America’s tech giants as a reason to hit the bloc with tariffs. In February, he threatened the bloc with duties to tackle “overseas extortion” of U.S. tech firms through digital taxes and fines.
