Nations reduce dependence on US tech amid uncertainties

Countries worldwide are taking small steps to reduce their reliance on US-made technology, such as France halting the use of Microsoft Teams, while other countries are reducing their holdings of US bonds amid unpredictable geopolitics.

The United States' long-held reputation as a stalwart of stability led its currency, bonds, technology, innovation and companies to be sought after worldwide, experts said.

But amid fluctuations in their approach to international relations, several nations are making changes.

France's public administration recently announced that 2.5 million of its civil servants will gradually discontinue the use of US-based videoconferencing platforms Zoom, Microsoft Teams and WebEx by 2027. They will migrate to the homegrown videoconferencing service Visio.

"We cannot risk having our scientific exchanges, our sensitive data and our strategic innovations exposed to non-European actors," David Amiel, a civil service minister, said in a news release.

Austrian soldiers have halted the use of US-created Microsoft Office and switched to LibreOffice. The software includes a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation programs similar to Microsoft 365's Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

In 2025, the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, changed 44,000 employees' inboxes from Microsoft to an open-source email program.

"We want to become independent of large tech companies and ensure digital sovereignty," Digitalization Minister Dirk Schroedter said in a statement in October.

The French city of Lyon said last year that it would roll out free office software to replace Microsoft.

And Denmark's government and the cities of Copenhagen and Aarhus said they are researching open-source software.

The dominance of US technology firms across Europe is widespread.

But Google, Elon Musk's X and others have faced criticism over their practices.

Google faces anti-trust scrutiny in Europe and the US, a complaint over its AI summaries, and large fines for competition breaches.

Musk's French X offices were raided by the Paris prosecutor's cybercrime unit on Feb 3 as part of an investigation into unlawful data extraction and complicity in the possession of child sexual abuse material. Separately, the UK's Information Commissioner's Office recently announced a probe into Musk's AI tool, Grok.

Most of the largest tech companies use cloud services, which rely on data centers in Europe.

But they are still subject to US laws even if the data is located abroad, which the EU argues could put its information at risk.

US tech firms are watching closely.

Microsoft's President Brad Smith warned at Davos last month that the fallout over Greenland could impact trans-Atlantic trade, jobs and security.

"Europe is the American tech sector's biggest market after the United States itself. It all depends on trust. Trust requires dialogue," Smith told CNN.

The debacle over the short-lived US-led push to acquire Greenland in January eroded trust between the US and EU and would have had dire implications for trade, an expert said.

"Europe would likely (have) retaliated with a series of measures that would exclude the US from trade with the European Union," Michael A. Allen, a professor of political science at the School of Public Service, Boise State University, told China Daily. "The national security and economic costs would far outweigh the ephemeral national security benefits of claiming Greenland."

At least a third of US government bonds are held by foreign countries, led by Japan.

Economists warn that if large numbers of US bonds were sold by foreign owners, interest rates would likely spike and cause refinancing of US debt to be more expensive.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, wrote in a note:"Europeans hold roughly $10 trillion in US assets: around $6 trillion in US equities and roughly $4 trillion in Treasuries and other bonds. Selling those assets would pull the rug from under US markets."

belindarobinson@chinadailyusa.com