Fine imposed on Google: the European Union will pay “a very heavy price”, threatens Donald Trump

Donald Trump threatened, Friday July 24, to impose new customs duties on the European Union (EU) and to open a commercial investigation concerning the fines imposed on American tech giants, the latest of which, to the tune of 890 million euros, targeted Google on Thursday.

“The European Union will pay a very heavy price for this illegal and highly immoral behavior, against which I have constantly warned”declared the American president on his platform, Truth Social. “The United States is not a CASH COW for Europe”he wrote.

“We will immediately launch a Section 301 investigation” of the United States Trade Act on these “practices of STRIPPING American companies”added Donald Trump, who indicated that he could impose “Substantial CUSTOMS DUTIES” to the EU.

A sanction under the DMA

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 authorizes the U.S. government to investigate foreign practices it deems discriminatory and to retaliate by imposing, among other things, trade surcharges.

Brussels imposed a total of 890 million euros in fines on Google on Thursday for violations of competition in online search and within the Google Play application store, under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which seeks to ensure fair competition in the markets.

This overall amount represents the highest sanction imposed by Brussels against a company under this European regulation on digital markets. EU officials have repeatedly emphasized that their digital regulatory framework does not directly target U.S. companies.

Donald Trump’s statement follows on from that of White House trade representative Jamieson Greer the day before. “The EU regularly states that it seeks stability and predictability in our trade relations, but this type of action creates major uncertainty for U.S. exports of goods and services”he warned, seeing in this fine a “real risk for maintaining transatlantic stability”.