Trump Ties EU Tech Fines to Trade Probe

Trump links EU tech fines to a trade probe as the White House and Brussels head for another fight over how Europe polices American technology firms. Donald Trump said the United States will open an investigation into the European Union and floated a fresh tariff after EU regulators fined Google and have also scrutinized other major US companies.

The latest flashpoint came days after the European Commission hit Google with a fine of €890 million, or about $1 billion, over conduct that allegedly pushed competitors out of its services. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the EU would pay a very big price for the way it has treated Google, along with Apple, Meta, and Amazon, all of which have faced EU attention in one form or another. He argued that the United States is not a piggybank for Europe and said American taxpayers should not be on the hook for those penalties.

Trump said the fines should be fully reversed and said he was beginning a trade investigation of the EU while weighing what he called a substantial tariff. He said the administration would immediately begin a Section 301 investigation, pointing to what he described as unfair treatment of American companies by European regulators. Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 gives the US Trade Representative authority to investigate trade practices viewed as unfair, and the second Trump administration has already used that tool several times since last year.

The tariff threat landed just one day after Trump announced new tariffs on 60 trading partners, including the EU, the UK, and China, at rates between 10% and 12.5%. He also warned last month that any European country adopting a digital services tax on American technology giants could face a 100% import tariff, even though many of those countries have already had such taxes in place for years. The latest comments show the administration is prepared to fold antitrust and tax disputes into a broader trade fight.