Donald Trump’s return to the White House has reignited fears across Europe about a digital weak spot few everyday users ever think about: The United States still controls the internet’s backbone, and if things go south politically, there may be nothing Europe can do about it.
At the core of the concern is cloud computing. Just three U.S. companies, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, dominate more than two-thirds of Europe’s cloud market.
These platforms power everything from email and video streaming to government communications and critical infrastructure.
“Cloud is like a tap of water. What if at some moment the tap is closed?” asked Benjamin Revcolevschi, head of French provider OVHcloud, during a public event in March, as reported by POLITICO.
The Kill Switch No One Likes to Talk About
Europe has long relied on American tech giants. But Trump’s second term has made that reliance feel riskier than ever.
“Trump really hates Europe. He thinks the whole purpose of the EU is to ‘screw’ America,” said Zach Meyers, director of research at CERRE, a Brussels-based think tank.
“The idea that he might order a kill switch or do something else that would severely damage economic interests isn’t quite as implausible as it might have sounded six months ago.”
That “kill switch” wouldn’t require any cyberattack or warfare, just a U.S. executive order instructing American companies to cut off services.
Matthias Ecke, a German member of the European Parliament, warned in March, “It is no longer reasonable to assume that we can totally rely on our American partner. There’s a serious risk that all of our data is used by the U.S. administration or infrastructure [is] made inaccessible by other countries.”
Cloud Control, Political Pressure
The concern isn’t just theoretical. In May, the International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor, Karim Khan, lost access to his Microsoft-hosted email account after the U.S. imposed sanctions.
Microsoft didn’t confirm its role in cutting access. They generally said that “at no point did Microsoft cease or suspend its services to the ICC.”
Still, the timing raised eyebrows.
That incident left some lawmakers spooked. Aura Salla, a Finnish lawmaker and former Meta lobbyist, said in response, “For Europeans, this means we cannot trust the reliability and security of U.S. companies’ operating systems.”
Building a European Backup
Some people in Europe want to stop relying so much on American tech.
One idea, called the EuroStack initiative, is to build cloud systems and digital tools that are fully made and run in Europe.
Its slogan: “Buy European, Sell European, Fund European.”
The project could cost €300 billion, and its supporters say that’s worth it to ensure digital sovereignty.
But critics, including the American Chamber of Progress, say the price could climb past €5 trillion.
“They are asking a lot of money for this project. Hundreds of billions. The idea that it is going to magically appear is pretty fanciful,” Meyers said..
Even supporters acknowledge it’s not a quick fix. Germany’s former finance minister Jörg Kukies admitted in April, “Unfortunately, there simply aren’t sufficient alternatives to the offerings by the American digital industry.”
A Divide Within Europe
Not all European countries agree on how hard to push back. France is aggressively backing efforts to shield European data from U.S. laws.
French Digital Minister Clara Chappaz said, “Geopolitical tensions are forcing us, more than ever, to question the sovereignty of our data, and therefore its hosting.”
The Netherlands, previously a strong defender of U.S. tech, is reportedly starting to rethink its position.
Meanwhile, a plan in the EU to set stricter cybersecurity rules for cloud services has hit a wall. According to POLITICO, U.S. officials pushed back strongly behind the scenes, trying to stop the effort.
The European Commission chose not to share key documents about these talks, saying that could hurt trust between the EU and the U.S.
No Easy Answers
Microsoft has said it will fight suspension orders in court and include legal protections in contracts with European governments.
Amazon promised to do “everything practically possible to provide continuity of service” even if sanctions were imposed. But experts question how much these companies could really resist a U.S. presidential order.
“You can feel that you are one executive order away from losing access to critical technology and critical infrastructures,” said Francesca Bria, an innovation professor at University College London.
“It’s become clear that Europe must not depend on any external power that holds the ability to pull the plug.”
With tensions rising, Europe has a hard decision to make: spend a lot of money building its own tech systems or keep depending on the U.S., knowing everything could be shut down with one political move in Washington.