EXCLUSIVE — The United Kingdom is preparing to designate Apple and Google as holding a “strategic market advantage” over other tech companies under its new Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Act, even as Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his government engage in trade discussions with the Trump administration.
The announcement could come as soon as next week, according to sources familiar with the plans, and will likely subject both companies to new government fines and tailored regulations. The U.K. government’s Competition and Markets Authority opened investigations into Apple and Google in January of this year, marking them as the first American firms to be labeled as holding “strategic market status” under DMCC.
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The DMCC itself went into effect earlier this year, but it closely mirrors the European Union’s Digital Markets Act. The DMA had previously labeled both Apple and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, as “gatekeepers,” and collected millions, if not billions, in fines and other damages from the firms.
In April, an EU commission found Apple, based on its policies regarding its App Store, out of compliance with DMA’s “steering terms.”
“Due to a number of restrictions imposed by Apple, app developers cannot fully benefit from the advantages of alternative distribution channels outside the App Store,” the commission wrote at the time. “Similarly, consumers cannot fully benefit from alternative and cheaper offers as Apple prevents app developers from directly informing consumers of such offers. The company has failed to demonstrate that these restrictions are objectively necessary and proportionate.”
Meanwhile, in May, the EU found Google and Alphabet to be in violation of DMA by prioritizing their own proprietary tools in online search results.
President Donald Trump has spoken at length about the DMA, both on the campaign trail and in office, highlighting the legislation as one of the most egregious non-tariff barriers American tech companies face overseas.
“Look at what they do to our companies. They sue Apple, they sue Google. $17 billion they got from Apple on a lawsuit that they didn’t have a case,” the president said during a July 8 Cabinet meeting of the monetary damages the EU was awarded over DMA violations. “They have, you know, judges that are European Union judges. They take so much money away from our country in terms of that, in terms of other things that they do.”
Representatives for Google did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Apple confirmed to the Washington Examiner that the company is “concerned” about the pending designation, stating that the move would “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.”
“We will continue to engage with the regulator to make sure they fully understand these risks,” the spokesperson added.
White House officials told the Washington Examiner that they were aware of the U.K.’s potential moves but said they would not affect Trump’s May trade agreement with the U.K. or his upcoming plans to travel to Scotland and England in the coming weeks.
“The administration has made its position on digital services taxes and other unfair regulations targeting American technology firms abundantly clear, and we are actively addressing our concerns in discussions with our trading partners,” a senior aide said of the pending announcement.
The trade agreement brokered by the Trump and Starmer governments in May makes clear that the two countries had agreed to further discuss digital trade in talks separate from the tariff negotiations.
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Trump has only negotiated a handful of trade deals, including with the U.K., China, Vietnam, and Indonesia, since announcing his “Liberation Day” tariff rates in April. The administration announced another pause last week in implementing the so-called reciprocal tariff rates as the president pursues additional deals.
Trump will sit down with Starmer later this month in Scotland to hammer out agriculture-focused details of their previously announced trade framework. He’ll also make an official state visit to Buckingham Palace in London in September.