President Donald Trump announced a formal trade investigation into the European Union on Friday. The probe targets the EU practice of levying large fines against American technology companies. Trump threatened to impose substantial retaliatory tariffs in response to the penalties.
The investigation proceeds under Section 301 of the Trade Act. The EU recently fined Google €890 million for breaching the Digital Markets Act. This penalty is valued at approximately $1 billion. The White House cited previous penalties against Apple, Meta, and Amazon as a pattern of unfair targeting.