A survey of 1,500 businesses in the UK, France and Germany has found that nearly three-quarters fear the US government could suddenly cut off their access to American technology platforms, yet most have no tested plan for coping if it happened. The research, commissioned by Swiss encrypted-email firm Proton, highlights how deeply European businesses depend on US cloud, productivity and identity-management services, a concern sharpened by recent geopolitical tensions and an export control directive that blocked non-US citizens from accessing some Anthropic AI models.

Proton found that 73.9% of respondents were worried about losing access to US tech providers, while just 5% were unconcerned. More than half said they could keep operating for no more than a single business day without cloud and digital services, and among large firms, nearly 29% estimated a day offline would cost over €100,000. Although 67.8% said they would switch providers if the US government cut them off, only 44% have a business continuity plan they test regularly, and every business surveyed reported at least one service disruption in the past year.