Trump threatens EU will pay 'big price' after Brussels fines Google $1bn

US President Donald Trump has publicly threatened the European Union with steep tariffs and a new trade investigation, asserting that the bloc "will pay a very big price" after Brussels imposed a $1bn fine on Google for antitrust breaches.

Trump called the penalties against Google and other US tech firms "highly unethical" and stated that the United States "is not a 'PIGGYBANK' for Europe." In a social media post, he claimed that the practice began during the "Sleepy Joe Biden Administration" but would not continue under his leadership.

The European Commission levied the fine on Thursday, ruling that Google violated the bloc's Digital Markets Act by favoring its own services in search results and restricting app developers from directing users elsewhere.

Regulators said Google gave preferential placement to its own shopping, travel, and other services over rival offerings, and blocked app developers from steering customers toward deals outside its Play Store. The penalty was split roughly in half between the two breaches, giving Google 60 days to change its practices or face periodic fines of up to 5 percent of its average daily turnover.

Teresa Ribera, the commission's executive vice president overseeing competition policy, called the action "decisive yet balanced," arguing that products should succeed on merit rather than ownership. Kent Walker, a Google executive, described the ruling as "product degradation" driven by a small number of complainants, insisting that regulation should improve products rather than weaken them.

The fine is the latest in a series of EU penalties against Google since 2017, including a $4.5bn penalty over its Android operating system and a $3.4bn fine targeting its advertising business. The new penalty reignites friction with Washington, as US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer warned that Brussels' approach risks unraveling a trade deal struck last year that capped US tariffs on European goods.

EU officials have pushed back, insisting they answer to their own laws rather than outside pressure. Trump threatened to launch a probe under Section 301, a US tool for probing unfair trade practices, but the move could take months to produce results, though tariffs could follow far sooner.