All Europe has to do is stop using US tech companies.
29% of all of Google's revenue comes from Europe. 23.14% of Meta's revenue. 25% of Apple's. ~30% of MSFT's.
Even if they reduced their use by a third, they'd *devastate* our economy.
Why do people not understand that the United States is literally *nothing* without our trade empire?
And these fuckers *aren't backing down*. I have a feeling Trump's gonna get this bluff called.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/26/trump-european-union-tariffs
Well, yes, that's all they have to do.
But I find this reminds me of a question I heard a long time ago: What if they had a war, and nobody came?
@Professor_Stevens @johnzajac Well, US is already saying they maybe won't come on case of aggression so EU should accelerate to join the defence forces and weapons production. This would also make EU a bigger player in the defense sector. US has a lot to lose in this situation but this administration doesn't get it. 
That is not the take I had in mind, but you've made a very insightful point. (Thus do we see the virtue of a diversity of views.)
Frankly, although it would be costly and potentially tragic, I rather hope your scenario comes to be. That may be what it takes for those who crossed into Trumpism to return to reason.
@Professor_Stevens @johnzajac
Well there is a war, and the new US administration isn’t exactly coming are they? At least not to help. Because yes they come to extort the victim Ukraine.
I should probably clarify, just so I'm not misunderstood. The question, "What if they had a war, and nobody came?" is supposed to suggest that ending war could be as simple as everyone saying they chose not to participate. Hardly anyone actually wants to go to war, so the idea seems feasible. Except that's not what happens. Most of the time, people go when told to go.
Likewise, Europe could just stop using Google, etc. But that's not what's going to happen.
@johnzajac genuine question: who's the alternative for corporate it systems?
It seems everywhere uses either MS or Google + Zoom
I'd like to encourage my company to switch, but to whom?
@johnzajac do you have percentages of margins?
@johnzajac There is an app to scan products in supermarkets to see if they are #USA owned or produced.
@johnzajac a while ago small , relatively small, local goverments here on spain tried to move to open source software in a way to escape the license cost among other reasons. It went bad. Thats on the public side. Private companies have even less incentives to do so as part of the whole deal are huge fiscal benefits to rely on third party services and reduce internal expenses. That and the huge lobby pressure. This doesnt means youre not right , in fact is probably the best path posible, but seems like a huge wall to deal with
@johnzajac The reason is very simple: lack of viable alternatives. Switching almost always comes at a cost, both upfront (buying a different phone) and long-term (having to re-learn all the things).
I switched to LibreOffice for my personal needs, but it seems to be lacking for basic business needs, as I was told by a friend who's stuck with MS due to that.
Luckily there is at least some movement in the services department, people started compiling a list of EU-based replacements for US-based services. It is something. But all of that requires spending money, and I doubt we all will get sponsored to do it.
And don't think people don't understand that the empire is built on trade -- just that very few can afford, both financially and technically, to choose otherwise. Which is, in part, likely thanks to the empire yet again.
@johnzajac I hope EU will subsidize Open Source projects and use open technologies to be more independent. Even only promote EU based tech would be a good start.
If Europe and Latin America and Canada switched to LibreOffice, Microsoft would see a huge plunge in sales and stock price. Mind you, this is exactly the sort of thing that the Americans used to overthrow foreign governments for doing.
"29% of all of Google's revenue comes from Europe. 23.14% of Meta's revenue. 25% of Apple's. ~30% of MSFT's."
@Greengordon @johnzajac
President Dilma Rousseff was migrating all federal systems to open source. I'm pretty sure that's one of the main reasons why the Obama office carried out the coup d'état against her.