BRUSSELS, April 30 (Reuters) - Microsoft ( MSFT ) respects

European laws including landmark legislation seeking to rein in

the power of Big Tech, its President Brad Smith said on

Wednesday, putting the company at odds with the White House,

which has criticised sanctions related to EU rules.

The European Commission triggered the White House's ire last

week after it meted out total fines of 700 million euros ($797

million) to Apple ( AAPL ) and Meta Platforms ( META ) for

breaching the bloc's Digital Markets Act, which sets out a list

of dos and don'ts for Big Tech.

"We understand that European laws apply to our business

practices in Europe, just as local laws apply to local practices

in the United States and similar laws apply elsewhere in the

world. This includes European competition law and the Digital

Markets Act, among others," Smith said in a blogpost, also

delivered in a speech in Brussels.

"We're committed not only to building digital infrastructure

for Europe, but to respecting the role that laws across Europe

play in regulating our products and services," he said.

Microsoft ( MSFT ), which racked up 2.2 billion euros in EU

antitrust fines two decades ago, is currently seeking to stave

off a possible penalty with an offer to adjust its Office-Teams

pricing. The European Union investigation is ongoing.

Smith also outlined plans to allay EU concerns about the

dominance of U.S. tech giants in cloud computing that have

prompted calls from some EU governments to restrict the

companies' role in lucrative government tenders. These concerns

have been exacerbated by worries about Europeans' data privacy.

"In the unlikely event we are ever ordered by any government

anywhere in the world to suspend or cease cloud operations in

Europe, we are committing that Microsoft ( MSFT ) will promptly and

vigorously contest such a measure using all legal avenues

available, including by pursuing litigation in court," Smith

said.

"To further cement the nexus between Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Europe,

going forward our European datacenter operations and their

boards will be overseen by a European board of directors that

consists exclusively of European nationals and operates under

European law," he said.

He said Microsoft ( MSFT ) would increase its European data centre

capacity by 40% over the next two years and expand its data

centre operations in 16 European countries.

"When combined with our recent construction, the plans we're

announcing today will more than double our European datacenter

capacity between 2023 and 2027," Smith said.

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