On June 12, 2026, the Trump administration issued an order requiring Anthropic to suspend access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for non-American nationals, days after their public release. The decision caused immediate backlash across Europe.
Politicians from France’s Gabriel Attal and Jordan Bardella to the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders amplified calls for AI sovereignty. Attal likened the shutdown of Anthropic’s models to Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Europe was dependent on American AI models and chips before the order and remains so today. The immediate economic consequences are likely manageable if restrictions prove short-lived.
Europe’s response should be concrete: expand compute capacity, coordinate with other middle powers, invest in domestic capabilities, and deepen partnerships with firms that need European markets. Austria’s June 28 letter to host Anthropic represents one policy response pushing from customer status toward guaranteed presence.
The export controls do not fundamentally change Europe’s position but may spur action on AI sovereignty that was already needed.