The risk of Mr. Trump ‘venting his anger’ on tariffs on the EU because of the Google penalty

On July 23, the European Commission (EC) fined Alphabet, Google’s parent company, 890 million euros (1 billion USD). The fine includes 460 million euros under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), for allegedly prioritizing the display of its own services in search results related to shopping, hotels, transport and sports.

The second fine of 430 million euros is the reason Google hinders application developers on the Play Store. This is the first time Google has been fined under the DMA, but is the 5th and 6th time the EU has fined it for anti-competitive behavior.

The total amount of fines Google has had to pay in Europe over the past two decades has reached 10.38 billion euros (about 11.8 billion USD). The new fine against Google follows a series of fines that the EU previously imposed on Apple and Meta.

Europe’s tightening control over Big Tech makes the Trump administration angry Reuters. US President Donald Trump criticized, saying this was “illegal and seriously discriminatory” behavior. “As usual, the European Union continues to directly target great American businesses,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social on July 24.

President Trump declared that “the US is not a ‘piggy bank’ for Europe to withdraw money from and will not let that continue to happen”, by opening an investigation under Article 301 into the EU’s continuous imposition of fines aimed at this country’s businesses.

He said the investigation would look into the “robbery of American businesses and ultimately the American taxpayer”, warning the EU would “pay a very high price”. Mr. Trump’s threat was supported by some politicians.

On July 21, a group of 25 US lawmakers sent a letter calling on the President to take measures to respond to European regulations, on the grounds that the EU is unfairly targeting US technology corporations.

MPs focused their criticism on the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which is designed to limit the power of large platforms such as Amazon, Apple, Booking Holdings, ByteDance Google, Meta Platforms and Microsoft.

They believe that the EU is taking advantage of anti-competition policies as a tool to exploit economic benefits and legally coerce American businesses, while European businesses currently have almost unrestricted access to the US market.

“If dialogue does not yield results soon, the United States should use all available tools, including but not limited to Article 301 of the Trade Act of 1974,” the parliamentarians recommended.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that the fine and other EU measures are causing “huge instability” with US exports of goods and services to Europe, undermining “constructive dialogue” and posing “real risks” to transatlantic trade stability. “The EU increasingly targets American businesses with the strongest competitiveness,” Mr. Greer said. However, he did not mention any specific retaliation plans.

In 2024, service trade turnover between the US and EU is estimated to reach 500.9 billion USD. US service exports reached 294.7 billion USD, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative. In 2025, a report by the German Economic Institute (IW) said transatlantic services trade would set a record of 865 billion euros, with the EU running a deficit of 178 billion euros.

Theo AFPthe conflict over Big Tech is testing the trade framework reached by Washington and Brussels last year, with the US reducing tariffs on European car imports in exchange for concessions from the bloc.

When asked about the reaction from the US, EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said the Google fine “demonstrates our obligation and responsibility to ensure that EU regulations are fully respected”.

Meanwhile, EU Technology Commissioner Henna Virkkunen said the DMA aims to ensure a level playing field for all businesses. “With these decisions, we want to ensure real competition,” she said.

The European Commission believes that transatlantic digital dialogue is in the common interest of both sides. “We believe that there is still much room to strengthen cooperation on many digital issues, including the contents stated in the EU-US Joint Declaration, while still respecting each side’s autonomy in building regulations,” said spokesman Thomas Regnier.

Google has 60 days to comply with the EC’s request. Otherwise, the company will be subject to periodic fines of up to 5% of average daily global revenue. With revenue of more than $400 billion last year, this addition is huge.

Google’s president of global affairs Kent Walker criticized the new fine and said that DMA is “damaging the products that users use every day”. According to him, to comply with regulations, Google is forced to remove the real-time search features that Europeans love, such as instantly displaying prices and availability of hotels, flights or restaurants, and must remove the safety protection layers on Google Play.

“This is not fair competition but product degradation caused by a small group of complaints for their own benefit, while European businesses and consumers suffer. Regulations should make products better, not worse,” he said.