Trump threatens EU will pay ‘big price’ after Brussels fines Google $1bn

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that US President Donald Trump has threatened new trade action against the European Union after the European Commission fined Google $1bn for antitrust violations. The penalty, announced by Brussels on Thursday, accused the US technology company of breaching the EU’s Digital Markets Act by prioritising its own services in search results and limiting app developers’ ability to direct customers to offers outside Google’s Play Store.

Trump responded on Friday by denouncing EU penalties against Google and other American technology firms as discriminatory and warned that the bloc would “pay a very big price.” According to Al Jazeera, he also threatened a Section 301 investigation, a US trade mechanism used to examine alleged unfair trade practices. Such a probe can lead to tariffs, though the article notes that the investigative process may take months, while other tariff moves could come sooner.

The European Commission said Google had favoured its shopping, travel and other services over competitors and had restricted developers from steering users elsewhere. Regulators divided the fine roughly between the two findings and gave Google 60 days to change its practices or risk additional penalties of up to 5 percent of average daily turnover. EU competition official Teresa Ribera defended the action as measured, while Google executive Kent Walker argued the ruling could weaken products.

The dispute matters because it adds pressure to already sensitive US-EU trade relations. Al Jazeera notes that Washington has warned Brussels that its approach to US tech companies could undermine a previous trade understanding, while EU officials maintain that enforcement of bloc law is not subject to outside pressure.