In current news we could hear that the USA wants to gather a lot of data from everyone entering. This includes data of other people who aren’t entering the USA, like family, maybe even contacts on the phone.
Wouldn’t this mean that you need to invest a lot of time to get consent or, alternatively, pay a fine on return from the USA?
In the case of the fine, how high would it be? And if you travel to the USA again, will the fine stay the same, now that you do break the law knowingly/intentionally?
I suspect if you incur a fine due to your refusal to provide data, they might deny your entry next time you try to visit. Just a guess though.
You got this wrong. Europeans are breaking European privacy laws if they give the US customs data about other people (family, etc.) without their consent. The fine would be by their own country, not by the USA. And European countries typically take back all their citizens.