TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to launch a tariff investigation against the EU in response to the bloc's anti-competition fines and other penalties levied against U.S. tech giants like Google, Apple, Amazon and Meta.
As DW reported, in particular, he cited Thursday's latest fine of 890 million euros (roughly $1 billion) issued against Google for allegedly giving unfair preference to its own search engine and its Play app.
Trump's threats come just a few hours after his administration imposed its latest tariffs on the EU, and many other countries, for supposedly not doing enough to prevent imports made using forced labor from their supply chains.
U.S. trading partners and allies like the EU, Japan and Australia have responded to these with a mixture of outrage and bafflement at the new tariffs.
What did Trump say online?
Trump issued the warning in a lengthy post on his Truth Social online platform.
"The European Union is at it again and, as usual, taking direct aim at GREAT American Companies!," he wrote.
He then listed a series of fines — or cumulative totals of supposed fines — against various tech companies, which he falsely alleged were issued "for no reason at all" and "without explanation."
He mentioned the latest penalty to hit Google, and claimed this took the total of their fines to "over 18 Billion Dollars!" without specifying a timeframe or evidence of any sort.
EU courts did recently uphold a record fine of over $4 billion for Google — in a process that had been under review for almost eight years — in one case among several in recent years.
"The United States of America is not a 'PIGGYBANK' for Europe, nor will we allow it to be! Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that we will immediately initiate a 301 Investigation in the practice of 'ROBBING' American Companies and, in turn, the American Taxpayer," Trump wrote.
What is a 301 Investigation?
The 301 Investigations are the new means Trump relies on to impose tariffs, after the Supreme Court declared he had overstepped his authority with the near-global levies he imposed on what he called "Liberation Day" in 2025.
The so-called investigation relies on the U.S. internally demonstrating what it deems to be unfair trade practices against it in order to issue retaliatory sanctions and refers to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. Dozens of such investigations are in the pipeline.
"The European Union will pay a very big price for this illegal and highly unethical conduct, which I have consistently warned them about," Trump wrote. "The penalties will be entirely reveresed and, we anticipate, a substantial TARIFF to be placed on them at the earlier moment. Stay tuned!"
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer had already criticized the decision on Thursday, saying the EU's enforcement action undermined "constructive dialogue" and posed a "real risk" to transatlantic trade stability.
The EU and U.S. have been bickering over the terms of their fragile trade agreement reached last year amid Trump's Liberation Day tariff frenzy. The slow ratification process across the EU's 27-plus member states and the institutions in Brussels has frustrated the Trump White House.
Read: EU Fines Google 890 Million Euros over Competition Rules
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