»She probably hates the USA more than anyone else I’ve ever met.« That’s what Donald Trump said to Fox Business during his first presidential term in 2019.
Who was he talking about? None other than »the tax lady« in the form of the EU’s then-Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager.
As with all statements from President Trump, they need to be thoroughly fact-checked.
»The remarkable thing about that statement,« says Margrethe Vestager, »is that I have never met Donald Trump. He says he has met me. But I have not met him. Not even in my dreams – I can say that with complete certainty.«
»It’s completely unacceptable«
The seven-year-old quote from the American president is worth revisiting, even though Margrethe Vestager left the European Commission over a year ago. She has been the face of the EU’s long-standing tussle with American tech giants, issuing numerous fines for tax evasion and anti-competitive behavior.
Together with the then-EU Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, Vestager was the chief architect of the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which impose stringent requirements on social platforms for content moderation, transparency, and targeted marketing.
In short, a new European thorn in Silicon Valley’s side.
Most recently, the platform X was fined DKK 900 million by the EU under the DSA in early December for misleading design practices and lack of transparency. A »crazy fine,« commented tech mogul Elon Musk on his own platform, urging the White House to hit back hard against the EU and the individuals behind the sanction.
But it was Frenchman Breton, not Danish Vestager, who was targeted December 23rd when the Trump administration escalated geopolitical pressure on the EU to ease regulations. The sanctions package from Secretary of State Marco Rubio included a travel ban for Thierry Breton for being the »mastermind of the DSA« and four other Europeans who have worked to combat misinformation and hold tech platforms accountable.
»For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose. The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship,« stated Marco Rubio, threatening to expand the sanctions list »if others do not reverse course.«
Vestager »hasn’t heard anything« from the White House.
»But it’s completely unacceptable to sanction people who have done their jobs. A job that involves proposing and enforcing legislation passed with full democratic legitimacy,« says Margrethe Vestager.
She’s perfectly calm about it if Trump suddenly remembers the ‘tax lady’ who—as he said in 2019—»sues all our companies.«
»Maybe the radar will catch me at some point, and if it does, so be it. Neither Breton nor I have anything to be ashamed of when it comes to cracking down on unfair trade practices,« Vestager says.
Is the USA a democracy?
In recent weeks, there’s been a military and political intervention in Venezuela and a ramp‑up in Trump’s hardline rhetoric about taking over Greenland.
Just months into Trump’s second term, democracy scholars warned that if this course continues, the U.S. may no longer qualify as a democracy by 2026.
Do you consider the USA to be a democracy today?
»It depends a lot on how Americans themselves respond. In his New York Times interview, Trump said nothing limits him except his own moral compass. That’s extremely far‑reaching. There have always been checks and balances, separation of powers—limits set by political majorities and the courts. There are laws and rules, constitutions and treaties. So it ultimately comes down to how elected officials respond to the democratic constraints placed on any leader in a liberal democracy.«
The EU commissioner of ten years calls it »a new situation« that the invasion of Venezuela so plainly revolves around access to oil; the Trump administration is openly one‑sided, admitting the goal wasn’t to advance democracy in the country.
»That’s why, on Greenland, I think the Danish government’s handling has been really good—taking it deeply seriously without picking a fight. I believe that’s the right approach,« Vestager says, adding she’s pleased with other EU countries’ reactions as well.
»Any country is vulnerable on its own when facing pressure from the world’s largest military. So unity is essential, and it was both good and appropriate that so many major NATO nations stepped up for Greenland and Denmark.«
Faith can move platforms
Today, Margrethe Vestager is just an observer of geopolitics. For two years, until December 1, 2026, she’s bound by the EU’s cooling‑off rules, which mean the Commission must approve her professional engagements to avoid conflicts of interest.
Some of what she’s chosen to take on still involves politics, democracy, and competition. Vestager has agreed to serve as patron of ’Rebuild,’ a pan‑European initiative to spur the development and rollout of the next generation of digital platforms across the continent.
Over 100 European tech companies have already signed up for the experiment, which over three events in 2025 in Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Paris will bring together entrepreneurs, investors, and stakeholders to establish real alternatives to the dominant services from Silicon Valley.
The project is called Rebuild because it aims to rebuild a sector of digital platforms that thrived in Europe 20-25 years ago but was stifled or acquired by Big Tech, says Vestager.
»In Europe, for a number of bad reasons, we have become dependent on external partners who turn out to be dubious partners. We have a dependency on digital democratic infrastructure from American suppliers, which face very little or no competition. Some of the services we use are not very impressive, but they are addictive and algorithmically polarizing. It is super important that new players enter the field so that as consumers, we have something to choose from.«
The idea is to foster platforms that, in addition to respecting the EU’s frameworks for competition, privacy protection, and data security, build new innovative solutions that offer other communities than those from the American giants.
»Currently, the European alternatives are very small. Before summer, we gathered all the Danish social platforms we could find. It was super constructive and very exciting – but it was also very characteristic that they hardly knew of each other’s existence.«
Vestager also praises the campaign ’Danmark Skifter,’ which from the turn of the year until March 20 aims to get Danes to consider their digital habits and switch to more sustainable alternatives. Since Politiken’s coverage of the initiative on January 1, nearly 6,000 Danes have signed up as active participants in the movement.
»It’s super cool. Lots of people want to try something new—they just want to do it with people they like,« says Margrethe Vestager.
Even though many might not think Zuckerberg is a great guy, aren’t you on an unrealistic mission?
»Many years ago, my husband came home from a study trip to Ireland. He told me in amazement that smoking had been banned in pubs, which was unthinkable here at home, but they still drank beer and sang. Since then, we also introduced a smoking law here, and today it is unthinkable to smoke in a restaurant, yes, it is almost unthinkable to smoke indoors at all. Things changed because someone took responsibility.«
»We’re now in a moment when the digital services we use are facing serious questions. New laws aim to protect people’s mental health and prevent manipulation. If there was ever a window to say we can do things differently—like when we stopped smoking indoors—it’s now,« says Margrethe Vestager.
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