The administration of President Donald Trump will launch a trade investigation against the European Union in connection with fines imposed on American technology giants in Europe. This was announced by Trump in a publication in “Truth Social“, reported CNBC, quoted by BTA.
The review will likely lead to the imposition of “significant“ American tariffs on EU goods, Trump added in a statement published on Friday evening.
The US president accused the EU of “robbing“ American companies and, consequently, American taxpayers, expressing indignation over the European Commission's recent fine of $1 billion on “Google“.
The EC announced this week that it is imposing two fines on “Google“ for a total of 890 million euros for violations of European law. These violations are related to giving the company's services priority in its search engine results, as well as for creating obstacles to the businesses of other companies in the e-store “Google Play“.
“The European Union is at it again and, as usual, is taking direct aim at BIG American companies!“ said Trump, criticizing previous European fines against “Apple“, “Meta“ and “Amazon“ (Amazon).
According to the US president, the latest fine against “Google“ was imposed “without explanation“.
“The United States of America is not a “piggy bank“ for Europe and we will not allow that to happen!“, stressed Trump.
He explained that the US “immediately“ will launch an investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows for the imposition of tariffs in response to practices found to be harming U.S. trade.
“The European Union will pay a very high price for this illegal and highly unethical behavior, which I have repeatedly warned them about“, Trump also said regarding the European fines imposed on U.S. technology companies.
Earlier this week, the United States announced tariffs of 10 or 12.5 percent on imports from dozens of trading partners, including the EU, arguing that they have failed to impose and effectively enforce a ban on imports of goods produced with forced labor.
The European Union's Court of Justice has finally upheld a 4.1 billion euro ($4.7 billion) fine imposed on U.S. technology company “Google“ (Google) for abusing a dominant position through the operating system “Android“ (Android). The EU's highest court has rejected the appeal of “Google“ and its parent company “Alphabet“ (Alphabet) against the General Court's decision, which confirmed the sanction imposed by the European Commission in 2018, it became clear from an official press release sent to the BTA editorial office.
In 2018, the European Commission imposed a fine on “Google“ after finding that the American company had given an unfair advantage to its own search engine “Google Search“ (Google Search) and the browser “Chrome“ (Chrome) through conditions for their pre-installation on mobile devices with the “Android“ operating system and through other contractual practices.
The decision is final and legally binding and represents a significant victory for the European Commission in its years-long legal battle with the US technology giant.
The EC imposed the penalty in 2018 after finding that „Google“ had used the dominant position of „Android“ to consolidate the dominant position of its internet search engine and other services. The company challenged the decision before the European courts, but after today's ruling, further appeal options have been exhausted.
In 2022, the General Court essentially confirmed the EC's findings, but annulled part of the decision relating to certain revenue-sharing agreements between „Google“ and device manufacturers. As a result, the fine was reduced from the original €4.34 billion to €4,125,000,000.
In its final judgment today, the Court of Justice of the EU held that the General Court had correctly assessed the anti-competitive effects of Google's practices, including the conditions for pre-installing applications and agreements aimed at preventing the use of incompatible versions of Android. According to the Court, these practices restricted competition and strengthened the company's dominant position.
The Court also confirmed that the recalculated amount of the fine was lawful and that the procedural rights of Google and Alphabet were respected during the proceedings.
The ruling is a serious blow to the business model on which “Google“ built the “Android” ecosystem. The operating system is provided free of charge to smartphone manufacturers, but against contractual terms that, according to the European Commission, restricted competition and strengthened the dominant position of the company's search engine.
It was these contractual practices that led to the then-record fine in 2018, after the Commission found three separate violations of competition rules. The final decision of the EU Court of Justice confirmed the penalty, which also opens the possibility of subsequent claims for compensation from companies that claim to have been affected by “Google” practices, Bloomberg commented.
From “Google“ told the agency that the court decision “does not take into account our significant investments aimed at ensuring that Android remains open, compatible and free“. The company emphasizes that in 2018 it changed its contracts to comply with the requirements of the European Commission, and will continue to invest in the development of the platform and in support of users, partners and developers.
The organization “FairSearch“, which filed the initial complaint against “Google“ with the European Commission in 2013, described the decision as “an important victory in Europe's highest court against “Google“s anti-competitive behavior“ in mobile markets“.
The case was one of four large-scale antitrust proceedings against “Google“, initiated by then-European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, whose aim was to limit the market power of large technology companies.
After Vestager was succeeded by Teresa Ribera in 2024, the European Commission continued its investigations into “Google“. Under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the company was obliged earlier this year to remove technical restrictions on competing artificial intelligence search assistants on “Android” and to provide key data to other Internet search engine providers.
The US company remains the subject of several other antitrust investigations by the European Commission. In 2025, Brussels imposed a fine of 2.95 billion euros on the company for anticompetitive practices in the advertising technology market.
While the enforcement of antitrust law remains the European Commission's main tool, in recent years the regulator has increasingly used the provisions of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Under this regime, the Commission checks whether major technology companies, including “Google“, “Apple“ and “Meta”, comply with new rules on competition and equal access to digital markets. “Google“ is facing new sanctions under the Act over allegations that it gives undue advantage to its own services in search results, restricts app developers from directing users to offers outside the “Play Store“ and manipulates the ranking of certain news results.