Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said Europe could tax digital ad revenue of Google and Meta Platforms in retaliation for tariffs imposed by the U.S. on Europe.

Von der Leyen told the Financial Times the EU is prepared to deploy trade measures and may impose levies on U.S. digital companies if negotiations with Donald Trump fail to end his tariff war against Europe.  

“We are developing retaliatory measures,” von der Leyen told FT, acknowledging there are a wide range of countermeasures “in case the negotiations are not satisfactory.”

She wants to seek a “completely balanced” agreement during Trump’s 90-day tariff pause, but Von der Leyen warned she was ready to dramatically expand the transatlantic trade war to services if those talks failed. That could potentially mean a tax on digital advertising revenue that would hit tech companies such as Google and Meta.

Some companies have been preparing for that tax, or at least talking about it within their respective companies to determine the next moves.

Mick Rigby, CEO of Yodel Mobile, which NP Digital recently acquired, is based in the U.K. Rigby brought up the tariffs while speaking with MediaPost when the company announced the acquisition.

“It will create higher costs for us to use Meta and other channels, so expenditures will probably dip in certain sectors -- the more traditional -- which could bring down demand,” Rigby said. “We saw some of this during COVID, but it should balance itself out.”

Regulations and restrictions would be implemented.

Von der Leyen is looking for negotiated solutions that work for all. “Companies that offer services make a good business in this [EU] market. And the vast majority of the services, 80[%] of the services are coming from the U.S.” she said.