Thierry Breton on Donald Trump

Thierry Breton considers Donald Trump's return to the White House, following an unambiguous victory in the election, a potentially destabilizing event for European institutions and the Union itself. He characterizes the former president's worldview regarding Europe as a "caricature," seeing the continent as an unreliable ally and accusing it of exploiting American power without sufficient reciprocation. This perspective points towards a radical and negative transactional relationship with the United States. Furthermore, Breton notes that Trump's administration has a preference for dealing with individual member states, specifically viewing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as a privileged counterpart, which risks undermining the EU's institutional unity and its ability to negotiate as one bloc.

The implications of this new dynamic extend to trade and digital policy, where Breton has vocally opposed the US approach, which imposes tariffs and threatens sanctions against EU officials enforcing digital laws like the Digital Services Act. He strongly advocates that Europe must adapt quickly to this reality by demonstrating its own power dynamic and resisting what he terms "capitulation" or "humiliation" to maintain its democratic and sovereign right to regulate its digital space. Breton was personally targeted by US travel bans over his role in designing the Digital Services Act, which he sees as a direct assault on European regulatory authority.