The European Union’s (EU) newly appointed competition chief has sent a clear message to the Trump administration: political pressure will not derail investigations into American technology giants.Anthony Whelan, who is a former close aide to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, has been appointed to lead the EU’s competition directorate, which is the body responsible for ongoing probes into Google, Meta, Apple and X, among other major US companies.According to a report by The Financial Times, his first public remarks in the role amounted to a direct and pointed response to Washington’s frustration with European regulatory action against American tech firms, specifically the Big Tech.

‘When there is more noise, be more vigilant’

Whelan told the publication that the competition enforcement “needs to be even-handed, fact-based, constrained by whatever is the legal framework of rules that you’re enforcing.” He made clear that outside pressure would not influence the direction of his work.“When there is more noise, you have to be all the more vigilant about the fact that your cases are well grounded and defendable in court if that is where they would end up,” Whelan was quoted as saying.The remarks are widely understood as a direct response to the Trump administration, which has been increasingly vocal in its criticism of European regulatory investigations into US technology companies.US President Donald Trump has previously slammed EU saying that “my Administration will NOT allow these discriminatory actions to stand.”Last year in February, US Vice President JD Vance called on European countries to embrace “the new frontier of AI with optimism and not trepidation”.“We want to embark on the AI revolution before us with the spirit of openness and collaboration, but to create that kind of trust we need international regulatory regimes that foster creation,” he told attendees at the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris.

What it means for Big Tech

For Google, Meta, Apple and X, Whelan’s appointment and his opening remarks signal that the EU’s regulatory agenda is not about to soften in the face of American diplomatic pressure.The EU’s Digital Markets Act, under which several of the major investigations have been opened, has already resulted in significant scrutiny of how these companies operate in European markets. Companies like Apple and Google have already been fined billions in the region.