Trump Threatens EU With Tariffs Over $1bn Google Antitrust Fine.

United States President Donald Trump has threatened the European Union with steep tariffs and a new trade investigation following Brussels’ decision to fine Google $1 billion for alleged violations of the bloc’s antitrust rules.

Trump said the European Union “will pay a very big price” over the penalty, accusing the bloc of unfairly targeting Google and other American technology companies.

According to a report by Al Jazeera, Trump described the penalties against US technology firms as “highly unethical” and said the United States was not a “PIGGYBANK” for Europe.

“This illegal and highly discriminatory practice started at these high levels during the first year of the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration, but it’s not going to continue during the Trump Administration,” he wrote in a social media post.

The European Commission imposed the fine on Thursday after ruling that Google had breached the bloc’s Digital Markets Act by favouring its own services in search results and restricting app developers from directing users to offers outside its Play Store.

Regulators accused Google of giving preferential placement to its shopping, travel and other services over competing platforms, while also preventing app developers from directing customers to alternative deals outside the Play Store.

The European Commission reportedly divided the penalty roughly equally between the two violations and gave Google 60 days to change its business practices. Failure to comply could result in periodic fines of up to five per cent of the company’s average daily turnover.

Teresa Ribera, the European Commission’s Executive Vice President responsible for competition policy, described the decision as “decisive yet balanced,” arguing that products should compete on merit rather than ownership.

However, Kent Walker, a Google executive, criticised the ruling as “product degradation” driven by a small number of complainants. He argued that regulation should improve digital products rather than weaken them.

The latest development has renewed tensions between Washington and Brussels, coming at a time when trade relations between the United States and the European Union had appeared to be improving.