WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has threatened the European Union with retaliatory tariffs following its $3.47 billion antitrust fine against Google, which he labelled as unfair.
Trump’s criticism emerged just one day after he hosted a White House dinner attended by prominent tech leaders including Google CEO Sundar Pichai and co-founder Sergey Brin.
“Europe today ‘hit’ another great American company, Google, with a $3.5 Billion Dollar fine, effectively taking money that would otherwise go to American Investments and Jobs,“ Trump stated on his Truth Social platform.
The president characterised the penalty as deeply unjust and warned that American taxpayers would not tolerate such actions.
Trump referenced previous cases including Apple’s 2016 ruling where Brussels ordered the company to repay Ireland 13 billion euros in back taxes plus interest.
He demanded repayment of these funds and threatened to initiate proceedings for retaliatory tariffs should the EU not comply with his demands.
The White House dinner on Thursday included celebrations over a US judge’s recent decision rejecting government demands for Google to sell its Chrome web browser in a separate antitrust case. – AFP