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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Trump threatens EU with tariff investigation after Google hit with | |
$3.45 billion antitrust fine | |
By David Goldman and Reuters | |
Updated: | |
4:06 PM EDT, Fri September 5, 2025 | |
Source: Reuters | |
President Donald Trump on Friday threatened the European Union with an | |
investigation that could lead to higher tariffs, after the EU fined | |
Google billions of dollars for violating its antitrust laws. | |
The EU announced earlier Friday that Google must pay a €2.95 billion | |
($3.45 billion) antitrust fine for anti-competitive practices in its | |
lucrative ad tech business, marking its fourth penalty in its decade | |
long fight with EU competition regulators. | |
Trump on Friday criticized the EU’s fine, saying in a that the money | |
Google will be forced to pay “would otherwise go to American | |
Investments and Jobs.” | |
“This is on top of the many other Fines and Taxes that have been | |
issued against Google and other American Tech Companies, in | |
particular,” Trump added. “Very unfair, and the American Taxpayer | |
will not stand for it!” | |
Trump said his administration may launch a Section 301 investigation | |
against the EU in retaliation, a procedural measure that could lead to | |
retaliatory tariffs. That could serve as a big blow to the EU, which | |
landed a hard-fought but controversial trade framework with the United | |
States over the summer. | |
Although the 27 members of the bloc voted in favor of the framework, | |
many European leaders have since griped about it, and a long-term trade | |
deal between the United States is far from a certainty. | |
Nevertheless, the fine is an aggressive move on the part of the | |
European Commission, the EU’s top tech regulator, after Trump had | |
previously threatened retaliation for future fines against US tech | |
companies. The administration has griped about the large fines that the | |
EU has levied as a result of their privacy laws and antitrust laws that | |
are significantly more stringent and enforced more frequently in Europe | |
than in the United States. | |
“Google has also paid, in the past, $13 Billion Dollars in false | |
claims and charges for a total of $16.5 Billion Dollars,” Trump said | |
in a Friday. “How crazy is that? The European Union must stop this | |
practice against American Companies, IMMEDIATELY!” | |
Google’s big fine | |
The move by the European Commission was triggered by a complaint from | |
the European Publishers Council. | |
The EU competition enforcer had originally planned to hand out the fine | |
on Monday but on concerns about the impact on U.S. tariffs on European | |
cars derailed EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera’s plan. | |
The Commission said Google favored its own online display technology | |
services to the detriment of rivals and online publishers and that it | |
abused its market power since 2014 until today. | |
It ordered Google to stop the self-preferencing practices and take | |
measures to cease its inherent conflicts of interest. The company has | |
60 days to inform the Commission how it plans to comply with this | |
order. | |
The Commission reiterated its preliminary view that Google should | |
divest part of its services but said it wants to first hear and assess | |
Google’s compliance efforts. | |
“Google must now come forward with a serious remedy to address its | |
conflicts of interest, and if it fails to do so, we will not hesitate | |
to impose strong remedies,” Ribera said in a statement. | |
“Digital markets exist to serve people and must be grounded in trust | |
and fairness. And when markets fail, public institutions must act to | |
prevent dominant players from abusing their power,” she said. | |
Google criticized the EU decision and said it would challenge it in | |
court. | |
“The European Commission’s decision about our ad tech services is | |
wrong and we will appeal. It imposes an unjustified fine and requires | |
changes that will hurt thousands of European businesses by making it | |
harder for them to make money,” Lee-Anne Mulholland, Vice President, | |
Global Head of Regulatory Affairs, said in a statement. | |
“There’s nothing anticompetitive in providing services for ad | |
buyers and sellers, and there are more alternatives to our services | |
than ever before.” | |
The latest fine compared with a record 4.3 billion euro penalty handed | |
out to Google in 2018, 2.42 billion euros in 2017 and a 1.49 billion | |
euros in 2019. | |
last week that the fine would be modest, marking a change in Ribera’s | |
approach with her predecessor’s deterrent hefty fines. | |
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