Washington, 25 July (H.S.):

Trade tensions between the United States and the European Union have escalated once again after the European Union imposed an antitrust fine of nearly $1 billion (approximately ₹83,500 crore) on Google. Calling the move unfair treatment of American companies, US President Donald Trump announced the launch of a Section 301 trade investigation into the European Union and warned that substantial new tariffs could be imposed if the allegations are found to be valid.

According to Russia Today (RT), the announcement followed the European Commission's decision to impose an antitrust fine of €890 million (approximately ₹97,840 crore) on Google. The Commission said the company had given its own services an unfair advantage over competing platforms in its search results, thereby violating EU competition rules.

In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump said the United States would respond to what he described as a series of punitive actions against American technology companies. He cited fines of $1 billion against Google, $15 billion against Apple, $3 billion against Meta and $2.5 billion against Amazon, and warned that the European Union could soon face significant tariffs depending on the outcome of the Section 301 investigation.

Trump also claimed that Google has now been fined more than $18 billion by the European Union. However, according to publicly available records, the total amount of antitrust penalties imposed on Google by the European Commission over the past decade is lower than that figure, making Trump's claim a matter of dispute.

Earlier this month, Google also lost its legal challenge against a previous €4.6 billion (approximately ₹50,571 crore) antitrust penalty imposed by the European Union. That case was related to Google's Android operating system and the company's requirement that smartphone manufacturers pre-install Google Search and the Chrome browser on Android devices.

A Section 301 investigation is a process under US trade law that determines whether a foreign country's trade policies unfairly or discriminatorily affect American businesses. If the investigation concludes that such practices exist, the United States may impose additional tariffs or other trade restrictions on the country concerned.

Meanwhile, US Under Secretary of State Jacob Helberg also criticised the European Union's action, saying the fine imposed on Google exceeded the annual budget contributions of several EU member states. He argued that the United States must now take firm steps to safeguard the interests of its companies.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar