The White House has Silicon Valley’s back.

The Trump administration is wielding tariffs as a powerful tool to reshape global tech markets while protecting favored American companies that align with the president’s agenda.

On Friday, President Donald Trump threatened trade actions including more tariffs after the European Union hit Alphabet Inc.’s Google with a $3.5 billion antitrust fine over its ad exchanges business. “As I have said before, my Administration will NOT allow these discriminatory actions to stand,” Trump vowed on Truth Social.

A day earlier, the Trump administration threatened to slap tariffs on semiconductor imports from companies not shifting production to the U.S. “Yeah, I have discussed it with the people here. Chips and semiconductors. We will be putting tariffs on companies that aren’t coming in. We will be putting a tariff very shortly,” Trump said before a dinner with major tech CEOs.

Last month, Trump vowed in a social media post to levy “substantial” tariffs on countries that regulate or tax U.S. tech companies. “With this TRUTH, I put all Countries with Digital Taxes, Legislation, Rules, or Regulations, on notice that unless these discriminatory actions are removed, I, as President of the United States, will impose substantial additional Tariffs on that Country’s Exports to the U.S.A., and institute Export restrictions on our Highly Protected Technology and Chips,” he wrote of the ban, which is considered a response to tech legislation under consideration by South Korea’s parliament.

The far-reaching tariffs are the most aggressive U.S. trade policy in more than a century, averaging a rate of 18.4% by July 2025, said Heather Hershey, research director for worldwide digital commerce at market researcher IDC.

In July, Trump proposed a ban on U.S. tech companies outsourcing jobs to India. But Industry experts warn that proposed tariffs targeting foreign remote workers and outsourced services could fundamentally reshape the global technology sector, disrupting supply chains, delaying projects, and eroding profit margins for Indian IT companies heavily reliant on the American market.

The outsourcing plan would greatly alter global economics amid tensions between the U.S. and India over H-1B visas and trade. Ultimately, it could wreak havoc on India’s estimated $250 billion IT industry and lead to the creation of millions of U.S. jobs as part of Trump’s America First agenda.

Sense a trend? Overt warnings, whispers of ominous actions, and intimidation tactics are pouring out of the Oval Office on the tech front, largely to benefit Big Tech leaders who have cozied up to President Trump.

In one way or another, Trump has made tariffs a key tenet of U.S. foreign and economic policy to exert political pressure and renegotiate trade deals with dozens of countries whose goods and parts are exported to the U.S. — and of late, he has made no secret of whom he expects to benefit beyond the administration.

“The tariff threat turns the sanctions into a component of a greater trade bargaining through which the U.S. government bears a portion of the defense cost,” said Rami Sneineh, vice president of Insurance Navy, where he spearheads client-oriented insurance solutions and risk management. “The backing of Big Tech in that way increases their leverage, reduces the risk of cascading fines, and retains market share in areas where regulators have been stepping up their efforts.”

A fundamental pillar is Trump’s threat to slap a tariff of about 100% on imports of semiconductors. No penalty applies to companies manufacturing in the U.S. or with plans to do so. The strategy has forced TSMC, Samsung Electronics, and others to announce hefty investments in chip making in the U.S.

And it has induced American heavyweights like Meta Platforms Inc., OpenAI, and Oracle Corp. to make nice with the administration to appease the president and shareholders. Apple Inc. recently vowed to hike its spending on manufacturing facilities in the U.S. to $600 billion over the next four years.

“Like, I would say (Apple CEO) Tim Cook would be in pretty good shape,” he said, with Cook seated nearby.

“Distractions like tariff threats shift the considerable competitive dynamics in Big Tech’s favor, as EU-based companies may back down in trying to push the EU to create an artificial and burdensome digital marketplace for Big Tech companies based on fear of tariffs,” Paul DeMott, chief technology officer at Helium SEO, said in an email. “U.S. platform companies have undue market power with the consensus money to spend and the lack of hesitation to deal with unwarranted competitive collisions.”

Such are the signs of the times as White House policy and the strategies of Big Tech align. As long as the CEOs of tech’s largest companies acquiesce to the administration’s wishes, they will minimize the ruinous impact of tariffs, outsourcing, and various trade actions.

The message is clear: cooperation with the Trump administration’s agenda offers protection, while resistance invites economic retaliation.