🔹 Donald Trump is back in the White House – and with him come growing fears among European politicians that the U.S. president now holds real power to paralyze the continent’s digital lifelines.

🔹 Most of Europe’s digital infrastructure runs on American cloud services – and Washington could shut them down at any time.

🔹 Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are trying to reassure the public, but even they admit that if a direct order comes from the White House, resisting it will be nearly impossible.

Europe Under American Digital Control

European servers, government emails, banking systems, crypto exchange data – all of this flows through cloud services run by American companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. Together, these three giants control over two-thirds of the European cloud market. And whoever controls them, controls Europe's digital heartbeat.

Right now, that person is Donald Trump – a president who has never hidden his willingness to use power assertively. For many in Europe, this is a wake-up call.

Could Washington Really Pull the Plug?

Since Trump returned to office, European lawmakers have raised the alarm. They say it’s no longer unthinkable that the U.S. government could issue a direct order to suspend cloud services or block access to data – and that American companies would have no choice but to comply.

German MEP Matthias Ecke warns that Europe can no longer rely blindly on its American partners. He points to Trump’s well-known impulsiveness as a serious risk that could lead to sudden and damaging decisions.

It’s Already Happening

This isn’t just a theoretical threat – it’s already begun. In May, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, lost access to his Microsoft-hosted email after the U.S. sanctioned him for issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Although Microsoft claims it never suspended services to the ICC, trust has clearly been shaken.

Former Meta lobbyist and current MEP Aura Salla commented: “U.S. companies naturally have to obey U.S. law. That means Europeans can’t rely on the stability and security of American-run systems.”

Europe Held Hostage?

Benjamin Revcolevschi, CEO of French cloud firm OVHcloud, likened the situation to a faucet: “Cloud is like a tap. What happens when someone decides to shut it off?” And right now, that tap is controlled from Washington.

Austrian tech leader Alexander Windbichler adds, “I never thought the U.S. would threaten to take Greenland. This is even crazier than shutting down the cloud.”

Is Europe’s Response Too Little, Too Late?

The European Commission is now scrambling for solutions. One idea is a trust label for cloud services that guarantees immunity from foreign government interference. But the plan is stalled – France supports it, while countries like the Netherlands are still hesitant to detach from American providers.

It’s becoming harder to ignore the risk. Documents revealed that the U.S. State Department began pressuring the European Commission as early as September 2023. The Commission’s tech department refused to publish their exchanges, saying it would "undermine relations" between the U.S. and EU. The lobbying continues.

EuroStack – A Path to European Digital Sovereignty

One long-term plan is called EuroStack – a €300 billion project to build a fully European digital infrastructure, from physical servers to software. The goal: complete independence from American cloud control.

The initiative is built on three pillars: “Buy European,” “Sell European,” and “Fund European.” It includes proposals for massive investment, government quotas for local tech firms, and a sovereign tech investment fund.

But Jörg Kukies, former German finance minister, warned that while the urgency is real, alternatives to U.S. services are still far too limited: “There just aren’t enough viable options yet.”

In Summary

Europe may be waking up too late to the reality of its digital dependence on the U.S. With Trump back in power, the threat of digital blackmail is no longer science fiction. And while lawmakers scramble to find a solution, full sovereignty remains a distant goal.


#TRUMP , #DonaldTrump , #USPolitics , #Geopolitics , #CyberSecurity

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