U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Friday to impose more tariffs on the European Union (EU) shortly after the bloc slapped a 2.95-billion-euro fine, or US$3.47 billion, on Google for violating anti-monopoly laws.
Right after the EU decision, Trump said on his Truth Social platform that “Europe today ‘hit’ another great American company, Google, with a $3.5 Billion Dollar fine, effectively taking money that would otherwise go to American Investments and Jobs ... Very unfair, and the American Taxpayer will not stand for it!”
“As I have said before, my Administration will not allow these discriminatory actions to stand ... I will be forced to start a Section 301 proceeding to nullify the unfair penalties being charged to these Taxpaying American Companies,” Trump added.
The EU announced Friday a fine of nearly 3.5 billion dollars against Google for abusing its market dominance by giving its own ad exchanges a competitive advantage over rivals. The EU also ordered Google to stop these practices. It is the fourth time Brussels has sanctioned the company with a multibillion-euro fine in an antitrust case.
“Today’s decision shows that Google abused its dominant position in ad tech, harming publishers, advertisers and consumers,” Teresa Ribera, the European Commission’s top antitrust regulator, said in a statement.
Google vowed to appeal the decision. / Xinhua