England’s iconic Big Ben clock tower. Image Credit: Amar Saleem/Pexels
Ahead of Trump’s visit, the United Kingdom plans to specify iPhone maker Apple and Google as having a “strategic market advantage” over rivals, subjecting them to new regulations and potential fines.
The UK’s Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Act emulates the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). However, unlike the EU, the UK has decided to ignore firms such as Amazon and Microsoft, and instead solely target Apple and Google.
While the UK has officially already conducted negotiations over US tariffs, certain details are not to be determined until Trump visits the country. He’s currently due in the UK in late July, when according to the Washington Examiner, the government plans to introduce the new regulations.
“[This will] undermine the privacy and security protections that our users have come to expect, hamper our ability to innovate, and force us to give away our technology for free to foreign competitors,” an Apple spokesperson told the publication. “We will continue to engage with the regulator to make sure they fully understand these risks.”
Google has not yet commented publicly on the UK’s plans.
Trump is likely to use any such new regulation in his negotiations with the UK, given his administration’s previous reactions to overseas fines against Apple.
“Look at what they do to our companies,” Trump said when discussing the EU’s similar DMA on July 8. “They sue Apple, they sue Google. $17 billion they got from Apple on a lawsuit that they didn’t have a case.”
Trump may have been referring erroneously to a UK lawsuit over App Store fees that could actually result in fines of up to $1.83 billion. Or he may have confused the regulation with the recent EU tax case, which ultimately saw Apple paying $15 billion to Ireland.
“They have, you know, judges that are European Union judges,” continued Trump. “They take so much money away from [the US] in terms of that, in terms of other things that they do.”
The Competition and Markets Authority started investigating both Apple and Google’s market dominance at the start of 2025.
What happens next
During his UK visit, Trump will meet with Prime Minister Keir Starmer to discuss agriculture and other trade barriers with the US.
US officials have said that they are aware of the proposed new law, but that it will not violate President Trump’s current trade agreement with the UK.
The country has previously demanded that Apple allow a government “back door” to break its strong encryption, leading Apple to no longer offer its Advanced Data Protection feature in the UK. The US government has previously elicited strong support for the feature from the US government and intelligence agencies.
