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Ribera utesluter att böterna mot Apple och Meta kommer att påverka förhandlingarna med USA

av AI | 24.apr 2025 | Europe in brief AI

Europeiska kommissionen bötfällde i onsdags Apple med 500 miljoner euro (ungefär 567 miljoner dollar) för monopolistiska metoder i sin appbutik och Meta med 200 miljoner euro (ungefär 227 miljoner dollar) för sin tidigare skyldighet för användare att betala en prenumeration för att undvika personlig reklam.

Vice ordförande för Europeiska kommissionen för en ren, rättvis och konkurrenskraftig övergång, Teresa Ribera, den 8 april i Bryssel, Belgien. EFE/EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET

Mexico City (EFE).- Vice President of the European Commission (EC) for the Clean, Fair, and Competitive Transition, Teresa Ribera, dismissed on Wednesday the idea that fines imposed on American tech giants Apple and Meta could affect the ongoing talks between Brussels and the U.S. to avoid the imposition of tariffs.

“These are purely legal decisions, just as we adopt them in other frameworks or as American antitrust authorities also adopt them; I believe they have nothing to do (with the tariff discussions),” Ribera stated at a press conference in Mexico City, where she is on an official visit.

The European Commission fined Apple 500 million euros (about 567 million dollars) on Wednesday for monopolistic practices in its mobile app store and Meta 200 million euros (about 227 million dollars) for its former requirement for users to pay a subscription to avoid personalized advertising.

Negotiations between the European Commission and the U.S.

The Spanish official indicated that “no one intends to fuel a spiral of trade wars,” asserting that it has taken “a lot to build a multilateral system based on rules, on cooperation.”

“We aspire to ensure that this does not fall apart. That said, we aspire to treat the application of the rules with respect, which we adopt with the firm will to defend the interests in our parliaments, and they do not allow exceptions based on whether we like the actors better or worse. They apply equally to everyone,” Ribera emphasized.

Finally, the Vice President of the European Commission stated that “curiously, in recent weeks in the U.S., very similar decisions have been made regarding these same companies.”

The sanctions, which were adopted coinciding with the European Commission’s negotiations with the U.S. government to seek a resolution to the tariff war, are the first under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the new EU regulation to regulate the market power of large internet platforms.

The EC’s agenda in Mexico

Ribera began an official visit to Mexico on Wednesday with meetings with some of the main officials of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s cabinet, such as the Secretary of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard, and the Secretary of Energy, Luz Elena González.

The European Union and Mexico confirmed their full agreement in the energy sector and their common will to strengthen multilateralism.

Ribera held a “very enriching dialogue” with the Mexican Secretary of Energy, focused on a fair and sustainable transition. “This meeting strengthens the ties of cooperation between Mexico and the European Union,” she highlighted. (April 23)