US President Donald Trump throughout a dinner with tech leaders within the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025.
Will Oliver | Bloomberg | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to launch a trade investigation to “nullify” what he stated had been discriminatory fines being levied by Europe against U.S. tech corporations reminiscent of Google and Apple.
“We cannot let this happen to brilliant and unprecedented American Ingenuity and, if it does, I will be forced to start a Section 301 proceeding to nullify the unfair penalties being charged to these Taxpaying American Companies,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He issued the menace hours after Google caught an almost $3.5 billion penalty from the European Union in a significant antitrust case centered on the search big’s promoting know-how enterprise.
The put up additionally got here the day after Trump hosted a dinner on the White House with a gaggle of high tech executives, who took turns praising the president.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai thanked Trump after a U.S. choose issued a good ruling within the landmark antitrust case against Alphabet. Pichai stated he appreciated the administration’s “constructive dialogue.”
The president complained in his social media put up that Europe was “effectively taking money that would otherwise go to American Investments and Jobs.”
“This is on top of the many other Fines and Taxes that have been issued against Google and other American Tech Companies, in particular,” Trump wrote. “Very unfair, and the American Taxpayer will not stand for it!”
In a follow-up put up Friday afternoon, Trump claimed that Google has beforehand paid $13 billion in “false claims and charges.”
It was unclear the place that determine got here from, although the corporate has just lately confronted a collection of hefty regulatory fines.
He additionally known as out the EU for squeezing billions of {dollars} from Apple in again taxes and fines for alleged anticompetitive practices.
The put up claimed that Apple has been fined $17 billion, however that determine seems to incorporate a 2024 courtroom ruling in Ireland ordering the corporate to pay over $14 billion in again taxes.
Apple “should get their money back!” Trump wrote.
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