1. 🚨TRUMP KEEPS BRUSSELS ON DEFENSE

The Trump administration’s staunch opposition to the EU’s regulatory agenda has proven so effective that Brussels is now proposing structural changes to the Commission’s enforcement apparatus to shield the process from U.S. political pressure and ensure they can keep targeting American tech companies without interference.

According to a recent report, French MEP Stéphanie Yon-Courtin is advocating for an overhaul of how the Digital Markets Act is enforced, citing risks of “political interference” leading to “suboptimal” enforcement. Yon-Courtin’s proposal would create a more independent competition authority outside the Commission’s competition directorate, insulating it from Washington’s political pressure just as transatlantic tensions grow over the regulatory framework.

Worse yet, the Commission can’t afford to implement its own restructuring proposal despite having raked in €3.8 billion in fines from US companies in 2024. To bridge the gap, Brussels has reverted to a familiar strategy: have the Americans pay for it. Accordingly, the proposal intends to implement a “DMA Fee” on the very American companies subject to the digital framework’s regulations to help finance the new independent authority.

The move suggests the success of the Trump Administration’s campaign to challenge Brussels’ regulatory tactics, which have bled American companies dry through endless fines and compliance fees, helping subsidize Europe’s own failing tech sector.

Rather than throwing the steering wheel out the window, the EU needs to reexamine its approach. Brussels can restructure and rearrange its enforcement structures as much as they’d like, but until it stops treating American innovation as a mere revenue source, the historic transatlantic relationship may remain rocky.

2. 🇩🇪 ONE YEAR IN, MERZ ISN’T THE ANSWER GERMANY HOPED FOR

A year ago, Friedrich Merz’s CDU party swept into government promising decisive center-right governance, tougher immigration enforcement, economic revival, and an end to years of drift under the left.

Instead, Germans got coalition infighting, policy deadlock, and a chancellor whose own base is openly questioning what they voted for. According to recent polling, only 23% of Germans say they’re satisfied with Merz’s performance, with 70% expressing dissatisfaction. The CDU’s youth wing in Cologne put it bluntly in a letter to Merz: “We believed in your political leadership. We trusted you. And we are now asking: for what?”

Merz has turned on numerous of his policies, delivering false promises to his supporters, including immigration. WATCH:

The conservative AfD, meanwhile, is surging again. The party has climbed to second place in Berlin ahead of September’s state election, up from 9.1% in 2023, and is running neck-and-neck with the CDU nationally. Merz hasn’t delivered, and German voters are speaking out.

💻 GOOGLE TO REWIRE ITS SEARCH ENGINE, ONLY TO SATISFY EU BUREAUCRACY

According to a new Reuters exclusive, Google is preparing to test changes to its search results after the European Commission formally charged the company with violating the Digital Markets Act (DMA) last March and slapped a €2.95 billion fine on them in September 2025.

EU regulators are forcing Google to give rival services greater prominence in search results. The EU has been liberal with their fines to American companies under the DMA. Brussels is forcing Google to comply by hanging threats of fines and continuing scrutiny over its head.

DMA fines can reach up to 10% of a company’s global annual revenue. Facing that kind of exposure, Google is now altering a core product feature, not because users or the market called for it, but to satisfy a ridiculous regulatory mandate from Brussels. Fines aren’t the only thing forcing Google to bend the knee. The European Commission opened formal specification proceedings against Google as recently as January 2026, signaling that scrutiny of U.S. tech firms under the DMA is only intensifying.

This is a pattern worth watching.