Donald Trump says the US will launch an investigation into the European Union and threatened a recent tariff over fines handed to among the greatest American tech firms.
It comes days after the European Fee fined Google €890m ($1bn) for working in a approach that squeezed out opponents to its providers.
In a publish to Reality Social, which Trump owns, the US president mentioned the EU would pay a “very massive worth” over the way it had handled Google, together with different main US tech firms Apple, Meta, and Amazon, which have additionally been investigated.
“The US of America shouldn’t be a “PIGGYBANK” for Europe, nor will we permit it to be!” he wrote.
Trump mentioned any fines needs to be “solely reversed” and that he was initiating a commerce investigation of the EU whereas contemplating “a considerable TARIFF”.
He added that the US would “instantly provoke a 301 investigation” over European regulators’ alleged observe of “robbing American firms and, in flip, the American taxpayer”.
Part 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, external offers The Workplace of the US Commerce Consultant the facility to react and examine commerce practices believed to be unfair. The second Trump Administration has launched several such investigations, external since final yr.
The tariff risk comes simply at some point after Trump introduced new tariffs on 60 trading partners, together with the EU, UK and China, of between 10% and 12.5%.
Trump additionally final month threatened a 100% import tariff on any European nation that introduces a digital providers tax on American expertise giants, regardless of many such nations already doing so, external for years.
Main tech firms, together with Google, Meta, Apple, and Amazon, have donated thousands and thousands of {dollars} to funds behind Trump’s campaign and presidency.
José Castañeda, a spokesman for Google, informed the BBC the corporate had “labored exhausting to conform” with Europe’s Digital Markets Act however had “expressed our issues concerning the affect of current EC choices”.
“We recognize the engagement by the administration and US authorities,” Castañeda added.
Along with the current high-quality towards Google, Trump claimed in his publish that Apple had acquired EU fines of $15bn, Meta fines of $3bn, and Amazon fines of $2.5bn.
Representatives of Meta, Apple and Amazon, in addition to the European Fee, have been contacted for remark.
It was not clear the place the figures cited by Trump come from.
Shortly earlier than Trump was elected president in 2024, he mentioned Tim Cook dinner, Apple’s chief govt, had called him directly to complain about fines the corporate had acquired from European regulators.
The decision got here not lengthy after Apple misplaced a long-running dispute over unpaid taxes.
Meta, which owns Fb, Instagram and WhatsApp, has been fined a number of occasions by EU regulators, together with for violations of consumer privateness and competition laws, external. It is usually going through new fines over purportedly “addictive” options of its apps.
Meta last year said the EU was “trying to handicap profitable American companies”.
Amazon, nevertheless, seems to have been investigated at occasions by the European Fee, however averted main fines. The corporate in 2022 reached an settlement with regulators to alter a few of its practices in Europe.
