US President Donald Trump says the European Union will pay a “very big price” over the hefty fine slapped on America’s Google tech company by Brussels.
The European Commission on Thursday fined Google a total of $1 billion for flouting the EU’s fair competition regulations.
Trump reacted, saying Brussels would face consequences over its bad treatment of Google and other major US S&P 500 tech companies.
“The United States of America is not a “PIGGYBANK” for Europe, nor will we allow it to be!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, his own social media platform.
“The European Union will pay a very big price for this illegal and highly unethical conduct, which I have consistently warned them about.”
Trump insisted that any fines should be “entirely reversed” and that he was initiating a trade investigation of the EU while considering “a substantial TARIFF.”
He said that the US would “immediately initiate a 301 investigation” over European regulators’ alleged practice of “robbing American companies and, in turn, the American taxpayer.”
On the same day, the Trump administration slapped new tariffs on dozens of its trade partners, including the European Union.
The Trump administration on Friday imposed new tariffs of 10 percent and 12.5 percent on goods from 60 trading partners, over allegations of lax enforcement of forced labor bans.
It claims that under Section 301 of America’s Trade Act of 1974, it found that the 60 economies have failed “to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor.”
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas questioned the Americans’ insensible rationale behind imposing the new tariffs.
Kallas said on Friday that allegations of shortcomings in the bloc’s forced labor controls were unfounded.
Speaking to UK media on the sidelines of an ASEAN summit in Manila, Philippines, she said, “You can’t say that for the European Union.
“If you compare our labor laws to the ones of the United States, I mean, we have paid vacations, we have very good labor conditions for our employees, so it’s not really grounded.”
