The EU has advised staff traveling to the US to use only basic gadgets and IT devices to reduce the risk of espionage, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing sources. The updates to travel guidance come amid escalating trade tensions between Brussels and Washington over US tariff hikes.
Sources said the European Commission issued the new rules for staff heading to upcoming meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Officials have reportedly been instructed to travel with burner phones – prepaid devices not linked to their identity – and stripped-down laptops containing minimal data. They have also reportedly been told to turn off devices and place them in anti-surveillance sleeves upon arrival in the US.
The new measures mirror those used for travel to Ukraine and China amid concerns over Russian or Chinese surveillance, the sources claimed.
“They are worried about the US getting into the Commission systems,” one source said. “The transatlantic alliance is over,” another added.
The European Commission confirmed to the FT it had updated travel guidance but did not specify the changes.
Luuk van Middelaar, chief of the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics think tank, told the FT that the guidance reflects a pragmatic shift. “It’s an acceptance of reality by the Commission,” he said, recalling the Obama-era scanda when WikiLeaks revealed US surveillance of then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her aides.
“Washington is not Beijing or Moscow, but it is an adversary that is prone to use extra-legal methods to further its interests and power,” he added.
The move follows US President Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariff announcement earlier this month, when he imposed 20% reciprocal duties on EU imports on top of existing 25% tariffs on its steel and aluminum, accusing the bloc of “ripping America off” with a 39% duty on US goods. Although Trump later paused the hikes for 90 days, a 10% baseline import duty remains in place.
The EU denounced the move and agreed to impose its own duties on US products, but has also paused the move, seeking negotiations and a new trade deal with Washington. The bloc has warned, however, that it could retaliate with tariffs on major US tech firms such as Meta and Google if talks fail.
EU-US tensions extend beyond trade. Trump’s threats to withdraw US security guarantees unless the bloc boosts NATO funding prompted an EU-wide militarization push last month. Brussels has also been frustrated over being sidelined in US-Russia talks on Ukraine and the broader thaw in Moscow-Washington relations.
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