Trump threatens EU with tariffs after Google fine: 'You will pay a very high price'
US president announces Section 301 investigation and retaliation over €890 million fine, EU insists rules are impartial.
US president announces Section 301 investigation and retaliation over €890 million fine, EU insists rules are impartial.
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened the European Union with launching a trade investigation and imposing additional tariffs after European regulators fined Google €890 million. On his social media platform Truth Social, he said the United States will no longer allow Brussels to treat it as a "piggy bank."
"The European Union is once again attacking big American companies. The United States is not Europe's piggy bank, and we will no longer allow it," Trump wrote, announcing an immediate investigation under Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974. That mechanism allows Washington to investigate unfair trade practices by other countries and impose countermeasures, including additional tariffs.
The fine was issued on Thursday, and according to European regulators, Google gave an unfair advantage to its own search engine and the Google Play app store, thus violating competition rules. Trump, however, characterized the decision as discriminatory and announced that his administration would seek to overturn it. "Predictably, they will pay a very high price," the U.S. president said.
Although Trump cited an amount of one billion dollars in his post, the official fine amount mentioned by both U.S. and European media is €890 million. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer had earlier criticized Brussels for this fine, warning that such actions could damage transatlantic trade relations.
The European Commission dismissed Trump's accusations of systematically targeting U.S. companies. From Brussels, it was stated that this is solely a matter of applying existing rules that apply to everyone, and that the U.S. cannot influence European regulations. "Today we gave a yellow card to TikTok; our rules are impartial," an unnamed source from the European Commission told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas told Reuters from Manila: "Allegations of deficiencies in controls are unfounded." Commission spokesperson Paula Pinho added that strict rules already exist and that the EU completely rejects the idea that it contributes to the global problem of forced labor, alluding to the reasons Washington cited for the latest tariffs on goods from the EU and other countries.
The new wave of trade tensions between the U.S. and the European Union comes just hours after the Trump administration imposed tariffs on goods from the EU and a number of allies, claiming those countries have not done enough to prevent imports of products linked to forced labor. As a member of the European Union, Croatia could feel the consequences of the new U.S. tariffs.
The European Union, Japan, and Australia sharply reacted to the new U.S. moves, calling them unjustified. Negotiations on implementing the trade agreement reached last year have been stalled for months, and the Trump administration is dissatisfied with the slow ratification in European institutions.
While tightening relations with Brussels, Trump also issued a warning to China and Russia. On his Truth Social platform, he said it would be "very bad" for Beijing and Moscow if they supplied weapons to Iran. He added that Chinese President Xi Jinping had recently assured him during a meeting in Beijing that China would neither export nor sell weapons to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and that Russian President Vladimir Putin had reportedly given him a similar assurance.
