‘They truly have taken advantage of US,’ Trump slams EU
US President Donald Trump has lambasted the European Union (EU) for slapping a record 5.1-billion-dollar (4.34-billion-euro) fine on US tech giant Google over antitrust violations.
The European Commission — the executive arm of the EU — announced the fine on Google on Wednesday after an investigation found “serious illegal behavior” on the part of the US tech firm with regards to Android applications.
Trump hit back shortly afterwards.
“I told you so! The European Union just slapped a Five Billion Dollar fine on one of our great companies, Google. They truly have taken advantage of the U.S., but not for long!” he wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
Trump’s trade war
While the European fine on Google was reportedly based on proven violations, Trump seemed to link the matter to a trade war he has launched on European countries.
The US president has on numerous occasions sharply criticized Europe for what he calls unfair trade practices, using that claim as an excuse to levy heavy tariffs on imports of European goods — most prominently aluminum and steel.
The EU is America’s biggest trading partner; yet, in the face of the harsh US trade restrictions, it says it has no choice but to respond in kind, introducing restrictions of its own on US goods and services.
Trump’s trade war — also targeting Canada, South Korea, and China — risks destabilizing the global economy, according to the US-based International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The US president, however, believes “trade wars are good, and easy to win.”
“When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win,” Trump tweeted on March 2.
‘Trade war between EU, US to be disastrous’
Meanwhile, the European Commission has warned that the US administration’s decision to extend his trade war to cars imported from the EU would have a “disastrous” economic impact and that the EU would retaliate.
Cecilia Malmstrom also warned in a speech on Thursday that the introduction of heavy tariffs on European cars would impact the US economy as well.
European car manufacturers BMW, Volkswagen, Daimler, and Volvo, among others, have heavy annual exports to the US and also operate within America, contributing to US exports as well.
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