Top Trump official tells EU to choose between US or Chinese comms tech | Hacker News Reader

Top Trump official tells EU to choose between US or Chinese comms tech

ft.com

7 pointsgniting7 comments

Isn't it like Europe is having own agencies and companies, that can do it? I've read something that EU is building up its own satellite comm and surveillance. They want to get rid of US now. Which is very good and which I strongly advise and support as a citizen of a member in Europe. Ditch the bully.

Top Trump official makes EU choose between deranged unpredictable actor and rationally acting one.

Their choice might not be the one he would've liked.

So it's a bit tricky for me to know more than the headline as it's a paywalked link. Here's Ars Technica reporting on what was in the FT article: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/04/fcc-head-brendan...

Fortunately, satelite internet isn't yet so important as to prevent the EU saying "no" to both.

Unfortunately your point is valud much more broadly than just Starlink, and even with the highest trust in Chinese stuff*, we also have the issue that even just the transition will be expensive and painful and needs to be done at high speed which will break things.

* which would be irrational, China has as much reason to want to spy on all of Europe as Five Eyes demonstrated it did with what Snowden revealed

We can also say "no" to both when it comes to satellite internet because we have our own solution that's being deployed right now.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/eutelsat-succeeds-w...

And yes, the transition will be painful. But it'll also allow the EU to position itself as the de-facto world economic superpower. Von der Leyen alluded to it here:

> 13% of global trade is with the United States. That's a lot. 87% of the world's trade is with other countries. And they all want predictability and reliable rules. Europe can deliver that. We must now use this momentum to open up new markets for our companies and establish as close a relationship as possible with many countries that have the same interests as us.

https://www.zeit.de/politik/2025-04/ursula-von-der-leyen-eu-...

Eutelsat is nice, but to quote the link:

> The constellation is scheduled to be fully operational in 2030

If satelite internet was already a necessity rather than a nice to have, that would be way too slow. We can (probably) afford to wait for it, but only because we can say "no" to everyone.

> And yes, the transition will be painful. But it'll also allow the EU to position itself as the de-facto world economic superpower. Von der Leyen alluded to it here:

Could do, if we play our cards right or make fewer errors than China. But as China aren't idiots, I wouldn't bet either way on which of the EU or China comes out on top, or if we end up in close-joint-first.

Note that by nominal GDP the EU and China are about equal with the US way ahead, but by PPP the EU is about equal to US and China's way ahead:

• Nominal: US 30.3T, China 19.5T, EU 20.3T

• PPP: China 39.4T, US 30.3T, EU 29.0T

As vdL was saying, business wants predictability and rule of law. We have a huge advantage over China there.

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https://archive.is/2025.04.15-105717/https://www.ft.com/cont...

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