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One of Donald Trump’s top officials has warned European allies hesitant about working with Elon Musk’s satellite internet company that they needed to choose between US and Chinese technology.
Brendan Carr, chair of the Federal Communications Commission, told the Financial Times that “allied western democracies” needed to “focus on the real long-term bogey: the rise of the Chinese Communist party”.
His comments come as European governments and some European companies consider whether Starlink — which is owned by Musk’s SpaceX and provides satellite broadband and limited mobile services — is a reliable partner after Washington threatened to switch off its services in Ukraine.
Carr, a longtime ally of Musk who Trump tapped to run the agency after his re-election as president, said it was “unfortunate” that politics appeared to be influencing long-term decisions.
“If you’re concerned about Starlink, just wait for the CCP’s version, then you’ll be really worried,” he said.
UK telecoms companies BT and Virgin Media 02 are among the companies trialling Starlink’s technology for mobile or broadband services — although neither has yet signed a full agreement with the provider.
Carr has previously argued in favour of Musk’s businesses in the US, claiming they had been targets of “regulatory harassment” ever since the billionaire took over Twitter in 2022.
He has also repeatedly suggested that the Biden administration discriminated against Starlink by denying it US government subsidies for rural broadband.
Carr told the FT that he believed Europe was “caught” between Washington and Beijing and warned of a “great divide” opening up between “CCP-aligned countries and others” in artificial intelligence and satellite technology.
The FCC chair — who authored a chapter of Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for a Republican presidency published by the right-wing Heritage Foundation — said European regulators had a “bias” against US technological companies.
He also accused the European Commission of “protectionism” and an “anti-American” attitude.
“If Europe has its own satellite constellation then great, I think the more the better. But more broadly, I think Europe is caught a little bit between the US and China. And it’s sort of time for choosing,” he said.
A spokesperson for the European Commission said it had “always enforced and would continue to enforce laws fairly and without discrimination to all companies operating in the EU, in full compliance with global rules”.
Shares in European satellite providers such as Eutelsat and SES soared in recent weeks despite the companies’ heavy debts, in response to the commission saying that Brussels “should fund Ukrainian [military] access to services that can be provided by EU-based commercial providers”.
Industry experts warned that despite the positivity, no single European network could yet compete with Starlink’s offering.
Carr said that European telecoms companies Nokia and Ericsson should move more of their manufacturing to the US as both face being hit with Trump’s import tariffs.
The two companies are the largest vendors of mobile network infrastructure equipment in the US. Carr said there had been a historic “mistake” in US industrial policy which meant there was no significant American company competing in the telecom vendor market.
“I don’t love that current situation we’re in,” he said.
Carr added that he would “look at” granting the companies faster regulatory clearances on new technology if they moved to the US.
Last month, Ericsson chief executive Börje Ekholm told the FT the company would consider expanding manufacturing in the US depending on how potential tariffs affected it. The Swedish telecoms equipment maker first opened an American factory in Lewisville, Texas in 2020.
“We’ve been ramping up [production in the US] already. Do we need bigger changes? We will have to see,” Ekholm added.
A spokesperson for Nokia said that the US was the company’s “second home”.
“Around 90 per cent of all US communications utilises Nokia equipment at some point. We have five manufacturing sites and five R&D hubs in the US including Nokia Bell Labs,” they added.
Ericsson declined to comment.
