President Donald Trump announces that his administration will initiate a trade investigation into the European Union that will eliminate significant penalties imposed on U.S. technology companies and probably lead to a “considerable” tariff on the 27-nation group.
In a long post on Truth Social, Trump claimed that the EU was "‘ROBBING’ American Companies and, in turn, the American Taxpayer,” expressing anger over the recent $1 billion fine against Google for supposedly prioritizing its own services in search results.
“The European Union is back at it, targeting GREAT American Companies yet again!” In the post, Trump criticized previous European penalties imposed on Apple, Meta, and Amazon.
Trump asserted that the most recent fine imposed on Google was given “without justification.”
However, the European Commission, the EU's executive body, imposed fines amounting to 890 million euros because of Google's supposed failure to comply with the bloc's Digital Markets Act, which seeks to examine the practices of Big Tech.
Trump asserted that the EU's actions will "not persist during the Trump Administration."
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“The United States of America is not a ‘BANK’ for Europe, and we will not permit it to become one!” he stated.
Trump announced that the U.S. will “promptly” initiate an inquiry under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows for the implementation of tariffs in reaction to actions deemed to unfairly hinder U.S. trade.
The Trump administration initiated several investigations utilizing that tariff power. Earlier, it enacted additional tariffs ranging from 10percent to 12.5percent on products from over 80 nations, including EU countries, due to claimed forced labor concerns.
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The lawsuit, filed by the Liberty Justice Center for two small businesses, contends that the federal government is misapplying Section 301 to essentially reintroduce Trump’s 2025 “liberation day” tariffs that the Supreme Court invalidated earlier this year.
“The European Union will face significant consequences for this unlawful and profoundly unethical behavior, which I have repeatedly cautioned them about,” Trump stated in Friday’s post, mentioning its stance towards U.S. technology firms.
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"The penalties will be completely overturned and, we expect, a significant TARIFF to be imposed on them as soon as possible," he noted.