Donald Trump Threatens European Union with "Significant Tariffs"
US President Donald Trump announced a trade investigation into the European Union. He accused European authorities of "robbing" American companies and pledged to impose retaliatory tariffs in response to fines levied against Big Tech.
US President Donald Trump announced that his administration will launch a trade investigation against the European Union. He stated that this move will lead to the cancellation of heavy fines imposed on American technology companies and will likely result in the imposition of "significant" tariffs on the 27 member states.
In a post on the Truth Social network, Donald Trump accused the EU of "robbing American companies and the American taxpayer." He expressed particular anger over a billion-dollar fine recently imposed on Google for allegedly prioritizing its own services in search results.
"The European Union has returned to its old ways, and is targeting great American companies as usual!" wrote Donald Trump.
He also criticized previous fines imposed on Apple, Meta, and Amazon, claiming that the latest penalty against Google was issued "without explanation." However, the European Commission stated in a press release on Wednesday that the fines, totaling 890 million euros, were imposed due to Google's failure to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act, which regulates the operating methods of Big Tech companies.
"The EU's behavior is not going to continue during the Trump administration. The United States of America is not Europe's 'piggy bank', and it cannot be!" he wrote. He added that the US will launch an "immediate" investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows for the imposition of tariffs in response to operating methods that prove unfairly burdensome to American trade.
Hours before his post, Donald Trump imposed new tariffs of 10%–12.5% on goods from over 80 countries, including EU nations and Israel, citing the alleged use of forced labor. Yesterday afternoon, a lawsuit was filed in the US Court of International Trade challenging these new tariffs. The plaintiffs, two small businesses, claim that the federal government is improperly using Section 301 to reinstate Trump's "Freedom Day" tariffs from 2025, which the Supreme Court had previously struck down.
"The European Union will pay a very big price for its illegal and very unethical conduct, which I warned them about," Donald Trump wrote. "The fines will be completely cancelled, as we expect, and significant tariffs will be imposed against them as soon as possible."
