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European Union officials have drawn up an aggressive 173-page plan to counter both President Donald Trump's trade moves and American tech giants including Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook.
According to a document obtained by POLITICO, European Commission officials are pushing their president-elect, Ursula von der Leyen, to set up a European Future Fund that would invest more than $100 billion in equity stakes in high-potential European companies.
The goal: get Europe competing head-on with the American and Chinese tech giants it has lagged behind for decades.
[...] The EU would use a so-called draft "Enforcement Regulation" if the Trump administration succeeds in its efforts to grind the World Trade Organization (WTO) to a halt.
[...] The EU is hoping to emulate past successes, such as its development of the GSM mobile global standard, which fueled the rise of companies such as Nokia.
[...] The document seeks more stringent measures to block Chinese companies from taking part in tenders in Europe to penalize them for the level of subsidies that they receive from the government in Beijing.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/22/europe-plan-trump-tech-companies-1472326
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 24 2019, @12:54PM (1 child)
What I don't get is, part of this is to get rid of state-funded subsidies in China. They then plan to invest in companies? Erm, what's that?!
I'm all for leveling the playing field, but investment (eg buying shares) = ownership!!
(Score: 2) by legont on Saturday August 24 2019, @03:29PM
Europe is simply recognizing that it is dropping from the developed countries list.
Free trade works best for a developed capitalism, while weak needs direct government help. My pet example is England against Netherlands story when wool ruled the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Plan_of_the_English_Commerce [wikipedia.org]
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.