By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Microsoft respects European laws including landmark legislation which seeks 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 ($796.5 million) to Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: 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 the text of 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 is expected to say.

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.

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