ISLAMABAD: US President Donald Trump on Friday lashed out at the European Union for imposing an "unfair" $3.47 billion antitrust fine on Google, threatening retaliatory tariffs if the decision is not repealed.
The warning comes a day after Trump hosted a gala dinner at the White House for tech titans, including Google's chief executive Sundar Pichai and co-founder Sergey Brin.
“Europe today ‘hit’ another great American company, Google, with a $3.5 Billion Dollar fine, effectively taking money that would otherwise go to American Investments and Jobs,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.
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“Very unfair, and the American taxpayer will not stand for it” Trump said.
The U.S. president said the Google fine was not a standalone case. In 2016, he recalled, Apple was ordered by Brussels to pay Ireland back taxes totalling €13 billion plus interest.
“They should get their money back!” he said, adding that if not then he would start proceedings for retaliatory tariffs to “nullify the unfair penalties”.
Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows the United States to penalize foreign countries that engage in acts that are “unjustifiable” or “unreasonable,” or burden U.S. commerce, he added.
EU Slaps Multi-billion Anti-trust Fine on Google
On Friday, EU slapped Google with a fine of 2.95-billion-euro ($3.45 billion) for anti-competitive practices in its lucrative adtech business, Reuters reported.
The European Commission found that Google had abused its dominant market position since 2014 by favoring its own display advertising services, notably AdX, reinforcing its control over the digital ad supply chain and charging excessive fees to the detriment of rivals and publishers.
The action, triggered by a complaint from the European Publishers Council, adds to growing transatlantic tensions as U.S. officials, including Donald Trump, threaten retaliation over EU scrutiny of American tech firms. “I will be speaking to the European Union,” Trump said Friday.
The Commission had planned to announce the fine earlier in the week, but internal opposition—particularly from EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic—delayed the decision over concerns it could provoke U.S. tariffs on European cars.
Google Plans to Appeal
Google said it plans to appeal, calling the decision “wrong” and warning the required changes would hurt European businesses. “There’s nothing anticompetitive in providing services for ad buyers and sellers,” said Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s global head of regulatory affairs.
Despite the appeal, EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera warned that stronger remedies, including forced divestitures, remain on the table if Google fails to address its conflicts of interest. Google has 60 days to propose compliance measures and 30 more to implement them.
This latest fine follows previous EU penalties: €4.3 billion in 2018, €2.42 billion in 2017, and €1.49 billion in 2019.