The European Commission is issuing disposable phones and laptops with limited functions to certain staff members traveling to the US, to avoid the risk of espionage.
This was reported by the Financial Times (FT), stating that the measure had so far been reserved mainly for travel to China.
Commissioners and senior officials traveling to the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank next week have received new security instructions, the FT reports, citing four people familiar with the situation.
They said the same measures apply as when traveling to Ukraine and China, where standard IT equipment is not allowed due to fear of Russian or Chinese surveillance.
“They are concerned that the US could access the Commission's systems,” said one official.
The treatment of the US as a potential security risk shows how relations have deteriorated since Donald Trump returned to the US presidency in January. He accused the EU of being set up to “screw the US” and imposed so-called reciprocal tariffs of 20% on EU exports, which he later halved for a period of 90 days.
At the same time, Trump sent conciliatory signals to Russia, pressured Ukraine to hand over control of its assets by temporarily suspending military aid - and threatened to withdraw security guarantees to Europe, which encouraged the continent to rearm.
"The transatlantic alliance is dead," an EU official told a British newspaper.
The FT states that Brussels and Washington are currently holding sensitive talks in several areas, in which both sides would have an interest in gathering information about the other.
Officials said the new guidelines for all employees traveling to the U.S. include a recommendation to turn off their phones at the border and keep them in special protective cases to prevent them from being tapped if they are left unattended.
Maroš Šefčovič, the EU's trade commissioner, spoke with US Commerce Secretary Howard Latnik in Washington yesterday, trying to resolve the escalating trade dispute.
The EU has postponed countermeasures against US exports worth 21 million euros, which it had previously approved due to US tariffs on steel and aluminium.
The US has also criticized EU regulations on American technology companies, claiming that Brussels stifles free speech and manipulates elections, as in the case of the controversial exclusion of a presidential candidate in Romania who received a large amount of support through TikTok accounts.
Three commissioners are travelling to Washington for the IMF and World Bank meetings from 21 to 26 April: Valdis Dombrovskis, Commissioner for Economy, Maria Luisa Albuquerque, Head of Financial Services, and Jozef Sicela, in charge of Development Assistance.
The Commission confirmed that the security guidelines had been recently updated, but declined to comment on the details. It said the EU diplomatic service was routinely involved in the update.
Officials said the new instructions for all employees traveling to the U.S. include a recommendation to turn off their phones at the border and keep them in special protective cases to prevent them from being tapped if they are left unattended.
An additional risk in the US is the fact that border officials have the right to confiscate visitors' phones and computers and examine their contents, the FT writes.
The newspaper recalls that tourists and visiting academics from Europe have been banned from entering the country after social media comments or documents critical of the Trump administration's policies were found on their phones or laptops.
In March, the French government announced that a French researcher had been denied entry and returned to France for expressing a “personal opinion” about American research policy.
Commission officials were told to ensure that their visa was in a diplomatic laissez-passer (the EU's official passport) and not in a national passport.
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