Make Open Source Great Again: Trump High Commissioner for Open Source in Europe

Ultimately, whatever the likable US President does comes back to haunt him. Donald Trump's return to the US presidency and his aggressive trade and technology policies are acting as a catalyst for the European Union.

Threats of punitive tariffs (such as the announcement of 100% tariffs on countries that impose digital taxes on American giants), Section 301-type investigations against European regulations, and the risk of "tooling" technology as a geopolitical lever of pressure are forcing Europe to accelerate its shift towards digital sovereignty and open source software.

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Section 301 refers to Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974. It is a key tool that gives the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) the authority to investigate and impose trade sanctions or tariffs on foreign countries for unfair trade practices or violations of agreements.

For the Trump administration, technological dominance is not just a commercial commodity, but a lever of geopolitical power. If Europe fears that the US might restrict access to critical digital services through executive orders, this works as an advantage for the US in negotiations on other burning issues, such as NATO defense spending and trade agreements.

Trump's genius plan: How to save American Big Tech by losing the European Market

Fear of sanctions and service disruption: Instability in transatlantic relations and threats from Washington have raised fears that the US could limit or disrupt access to critical American digital infrastructure, cloud and AI software in times of crisis or trade conflict.

Reaction to tariffs and threats: Trump's pushback against EU fines on American technology companies and threats of a trade war have shown Europe that dependence on foreign providers is a strategic vulnerability.

Shifting towards Open Source

Microsoft Decoupling: European governments and local authorities are abandoning commercial software (such as Microsoft Office and Windows) in favor of open alternatives. The state of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany and cities like Lyon in France are moving their employees to Linux, Nextcloud, and LibreOffice.

Public Procurement : The European Commission is strengthening its open source strategy, directing funds and public contracts to European open source solutions to ensure transparency and full control of data.

Local AI and Cloud Infrastructures : An effort is being made to create European open source infrastructures for artificial intelligence and the cloud, preventing the so-called “vendor lock-in” by American Big Tech.

Open-source control

Even in the field of open source software, the White House is not standing idly by. Executive measures to control and scan open-source AI models under the pretext of national security (mainly to prevent China from gaining access) are already being considered, showing that Washington believes it can influence or even limit this ecosystem, if necessary.

The president is not necessarily ignoring Europe's moves, but he is betting that American technological supremacy is so deeply entrenched that threats of tariffs will force the EU to back down before it can build a truly independent open-source infrastructure.

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