US President Donald Trump has issued a direct and sharp threat to the European Union to impose significant trade tariffs “as soon as possible“.
The White House's reaction was provoked by Brussels' decision to impose an antitrust fine of $1 billion (about 890 million euros) on US technology giant Google.
Trump used his social platform Truth Social to express his indignation, stating that “The United States is not a piggy bank for Europe“. According to him, European regulators are deliberately and unreasonably attacking successful US companies, which is also harming US taxpayers. The head of state promised that the sanctions imposed on the technology sector will be fully offset by “serious tariff countermeasures“, which are expected to enter into force immediately after the conclusion of an emergency procedure.
The legal basis for the new sanctions will be the activation of the so-called “Section 301“ of the US Trade Act of 1974. This mechanism allows Washington to investigate and unilaterally punish “unfair and discriminatory“ trade practices by foreign countries. According to economic analysts quoted by CNBC, this move threatens to completely destroy the agreement reached last summer in Turnberry, Scotland. The deal in question provided for a ceiling of US tariffs on European goods of up to 15% in exchange for the elimination of European levies on American industrial products.
The new tension arises just hours after the Trump administration has already implemented another package of tariffs between 10% and 12.5% on goods from a total of 60 countries, including EU countries. The official reason for the previous package from the White House was “insufficient control over the import of products produced with forced labor”. As the European bureau of the Politico platform reports, the EU has already expressed serious dissatisfaction with these accusations. EU foreign policy chief Kaia Kallas countered the US position, saying that European labor law provides much higher standards and paid leave than the US, making Washington's motives unfounded.
Experts warn that if Trump follows through on his new threat over the Google case, the EU is likely to trigger its "Economic Coercion Instrument." This would lead to a massive wave of retaliatory tariffs on US imports and a full-scale transatlantic trade war.