Trump Administration to Launch Formal Investigation Into EU Trade Practices Over Tech Company Penalties

President Donald Trump announced Friday that the United States will initiate a formal investigation into European Union trade practices, asserting that the bloc has imposed billions in unjustified penalties on major American technology firms. The announcement followed the EU’s latest enforcement action, a 890 million euro fine—equivalent to approximately $1 billion—levied against Google for alleged anticompetitive conduct involving its search platform and Google Play store.

Trump used social media to air his grievances, explicitly naming Google, Apple, Meta, and Amazon as targets of EU enforcement actions he characterized as exploitative. He declared that “the United States of America is not a ‘PIGGYBANK’ for Europe,” signaling his intent to launch what he termed an immediate trade investigation into what he called systematic “ROBBING” of American corporations and taxpayers.

The Republican president indicated that the penalties assessed against the technology companies would be “entirely reversed” and threatened to impose “a substantial TARIFF” on European Union imports at the earliest opportunity. He warned that the EU would “pay a very big price” for what he described as illegal and unethical conduct that he claimed to have previously cautioned against.

This action follows the White House’s announcement of double-digit tariffs on imports from more than 60 countries, implemented under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The new duties replace temporary 10 percent global import taxes that Trump had previously imposed before the Supreme Court invalidated his most aggressive tariff measures.