Trump threatens EU over Google fine with tariffs and trade probe
Trump warned the EU could face tariffs and a US trade investigation after Brussels fined Google $1bn under digital competition rules.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
US President Donald Trump threatened tariffs and a new trade investigation in the Trump EU Google fine dispute after Brussels imposed a $1bn antitrust penalty on the company. The warning adds pressure to US-EU trade relations just as tensions between Washington and Brussels had appeared to ease.
Trump said Friday that the European Union “will pay a very big price” over penalties aimed at Google and other US technology firms. In a social media post, he called the actions “highly unethical” and said the United States “is not a ‘PIGGYBANK’ for Europe.”
Trump also linked the issue to the Biden administration, writing that the practice began “during the first year of the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration” and would not continue under his administration.
Why did the EU fine Google?
The European Commission said Thursday that Google violated the bloc’s Digital Markets Act by favoring its own services in search results and limiting how app developers could direct users to offers outside Google’s Play Store. The Digital Markets Act is the EU rulebook at issue in the case, aimed at policing large digital platforms under European competition law.
EU regulators said Google gave better placement to its own shopping, travel and other services than to competing services. They also said the company prevented app developers from steering customers toward deals available away from the Play Store.
The commission divided the penalty roughly evenly between the two findings. It gave Google 60 days to change the practices or risk recurring fines of as much as 5 percent of its average daily turnover.
Teresa Ribera, the European Commission executive vice president responsible for competition policy, described the decision Thursday as “decisive yet balanced.” She said products should compete based on their quality rather than the ownership of the platform that displays them.
Google executive Kent Walker rejected the decision, calling it “product degradation” influenced by a small group of complainants. He said regulation should improve products rather than make them worse.
How could Trump respond?
Trump threatened to open an investigation under Section 301, a US trade-law process used to examine alleged unfair trade practices. Such a probe could take months to complete, though tariffs could come sooner, according to Al Jazeera.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also warned this week that the EU’s treatment of American technology companies could threaten a trade deal reached last year in Turnberry, Scotland. That agreement capped US tariffs on European goods.
EU officials have pushed back against US pressure, saying they are bound by European law. The latest clash follows a series of EU penalties against Google since 2017, including a $4.5bn Android fine upheld on appeal this month and a $3.4bn penalty last year tied to the company’s advertising business.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.