The Bazooka Option

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Evodince GmbH
April 25, 2025

Last week, I stopped for a couple of days in Barjac, France—a quaint medieval village in the southwest of the country. Twice a year, in April and August, the entire town transforms into something surreal: a sprawling, village-wide flea market with more than four hundred vendors from all over France. No trade barriers, no tariffs, and almost no digital payment systems in sight. Just people, tables piled with second-hand goods, negotiation, and cash.

Wandering through, I found myself thinking about these kinds of informal, frictionless exchanges in a world increasingly shaped by trade wars. What does “second-hand” even mean when first-hand goods become scarce, expensive, or strategically restricted? Can we expect this type of commerce to become more popular until tariff policy is finalized and things settle down?

Up in Brussels, not much feels quaint—or settled. The EU fined Apple and Meta €700 million under the Digital Markets Act—action the Commission insists is independent of politics, though the timing raises eyebrows. Meta called it a de facto “tariff on American firms,” and they may have a point, at least in terms of perception across the Atlantic.

What’s shifting isn’t just policy—it’s posture. The EU appears to be emboldened by the on-again, off-again nature of Trump’s tariff announcements, which European media increasingly describe as deliberate market shocks rather than strategic negotiation tools.

Enter Europe’s “Bazooka Option.” Once a theoretical deterrent—officially labeled the Anti-Coercion Instrument—it’s now being openly discussed as a frontline measure. That includes not only tariffs and tech restrictions, but potential bans on US companies bidding on EU procurement contracts (read: defense). As one EU diplomat told Politico: “We’ve moved on from seduction to strategy.”

Below, we offer some highlights of that strategy from a European media perspective. Whether we’re talking about iPhones, procurement bids, or a €25 book of classical poetry I picked up in Barjac (haggled down from €40, for the record), the quiet underlying question is the same: who controls access, and who pays the price?

Enjoy your weekend, friends.

Leigh Fatzinger, Editor
Salzburg, Austria / 25 April 2025

Note: Our friends at DeepL are helping us with translation, so you can experience perspectives from non-English news publications in Europe.

Europese Commissie legt Apple en Meta voor 700 miljoen euro boetes op  [European Commission imposes fines for Apple and Meta for 700 million euros] - NOS Nieuws (Netherlands) - 23 April 2025

The fines come at a sensitive moment. The European Commission always emphasizes that the fines are separate from this, but they can indeed have an impact on that. If only because Trump complains time and time again that American tech companies are being imposed by far too many rules by the EU.

By imposing the fines anyway, the Commission wants to show that it is not bending to Trump's pressure. At the same time, they also take a risk. The fines may be fuel on fire in the trade war with the US and slow down the difficult negotiations on import duties. [Translated from Dutch by DeepL.]

Note: Our friends at DeepL are helping us with translation, so you can experience perspectives from non-English news publications in Europe.

Vrea sa dea o noua lovitura pe burse? Donald Trump s-a razgandit din nou si anunta ca va reimpune tarifele inainte de trecerea „pauzei de 90 de zile” promise anterior [Does he want to make a new splash on the stock markets? Donald Trump has changed his mind again and announces that he will reimpose the tariffs before the "90-day break" previously promised]- Aktual24 (Romania) - 23 April 2025

Despite a slight rebound, the US S&P index lost 7 trillion in real value. In fact, there are not a few analysts who claim that through these sudden "changes of mind," Trump is doing nothing but manipulating the stock markets, so that he and his close friends can obtain billions of dollars in profits overnight. [Translated from Romanian by DeepL.]

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Your Weekend Thought Starters

🔺 Is Brussels bluffing? Apple and Meta fines show the EU is done waiting on US clarity—it’s asserting control over its digital turf. Will this extend to other areas?

⚠️ Volatility is the new tariff. Trump’s unpredictability is creating openings for Europe to act boldly without waiting for a full-blown breakdown.

🎯 Will the EU use its Bazooka? The EU’s Anti-Coercion Instrument could move from theory to action—fast. Think procurement bans, IP rollbacks, and import restrictions. But will it get used?

💶 Stability sells. The EU is betting that regulatory assertiveness will attract allies—and investors—fleeing political chaos elsewhere.

📖 Read Tuesday’s edition of Evodince: EU Trade – Evodince Media (Austria) – 22 April 2025

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