United States President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the European Union for imposing what Trump called an unfair $3.47 billion antitrust fine on Google and has promised to impose retaliatory sanctions unless it is overturned. The strong reaction came out on Friday, a day after Trump invited prominent tech leaders to an elegant meal in the White House, where Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai and co-founder Sergey Brin were present.
In a blog post via the Truth Social platform, Trump expressed his displeasure at the EU’s actions, claiming that it discriminates against an American business and is a waste of funds that could be used to support local investments and job opportunities. Trump estimated the fine to be $3.5 billion and stressed that these actions burden American taxpayers and declared the measures unconstitutional. Trump pointed to a larger pattern of EU rulings that affect U.S. firms, referencing the ruling of 2016 that required Apple to pay Ireland around 13 billion euros of tax back and interest.
In announcing the return of this money, Trump warned that failure to return it would lead to the initiation of tariffs designed to mitigate what he called unfair penalties. The timing of his remarks was a source of intrigue, since they were in response to his commendation of Pichai and Brin at the previous evening’s dinner for an earlier U.S. judicial victory. In the case, a judge ruled against the government’s request to get Google to end its Chrome browser, amidst an ongoing antitrust investigation, which Trump declared a victory before the executives in attendance.
This episode highlights the ongoing frictions within transatlantic trading relations, especially regarding regulatory actions taken against large technology firms, and indicates possible escalations should the issue not be resolved.
