“An American spin-off would ignite EU glee,” said Aurelien Portuese, a professor of competition law at George Mason University in Washington, D.C., adding that it would probably trigger a copycat response on the European side to align its rules with Chrome’s new commercial reality.
Even for the most ardent European advocates of a Google break-up, a U.S. divestment order remains far more viable than a foreign one. “If a decision like this is taken, it could only come from the U.S.” said Christian Kroll, CEO of Berlin-based search engine Ecosia.
Given the political climate, it would be logical both politically and legally that U.S. enforcers move first on a Big Tech break-up, said Anne Witt, a professor at EDHEC Business School in Lille.
“The Trump administration has made clear that it will defend American firms against any foreign antitrust intervention.” Witt said. “This puts the European Commission in a very difficult place.”
When the Commission’s then–competition chief Margarethe Vestager floated a break-up of Google in its 2023 advertising technology abuse of dominance case, the proposal “sent shockwaves through the European antitrust community,” Witt said.
Not only had the EU never broken up an American company before, it had also rarely reached for this nuclear option when big European firms were caught behaving badly.