TMTPOST -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday threatened he would   reignite   trade war   with the European Union   after   an American tech giant   was   penalized   with billions   of dollars of fine   in an antitrust case.

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Trump in his social media post   warned   he would open an   investigation   that could   lead to new   tariffs against the EU ’ s   "discriminatory"   penalties   on U.S. companies. "As I have said before, my Administration will NOT allow these discriminatory actions to stand," he wrote. "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."

In another   post on   his platform Truth Social, Trump noted U.S. tech companies including   Google had already paid sizable   penalties and taxes to the EU,   which   is unfair   and unacceptable   for the   United States.

"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 posted. "Very unfair, and the American Taxpayer will not stand for it! As I have said before, my Administration will NOT allow these discriminatory actions to stand."   

Trump followed up   a post   pointing out   Google   has   paid   previously $13 billion   "in false   claims and charges   for a total of $16.5 Billion   Dollar."   "The European Union must stop this practice against American Companies, IMMEDIATELY!"   he added.

Trump   later   Friday further   lashed out over the   EU ’ s penalties   charged to U.S. companies. "It ’ s become a source of income. And many other companies too. Mostly tech companies, but we can ’ t let that happen," Trump said at   the White House. "I ’ ve gone to lawyers, and I ’ ve asked them, ‘ What do you think? ’ They said, ‘ They didn ’ t do anything wrong. ’ You can ’ t do that, it ’ s not fair."

Trump issued his warning   hours after the EU announced it   had fined Google € 2.95   billion for for breaching EU antitrust rules by distorting competition in the advertising technology   ( adtech )   industry. Google ’ s abusive practices were   taken in a way of   favoring its own online display adtech services   to    to the detriment of competing providers of advertising technology services, advertisers and online publishers, according to the commission in   a   statement.

The European Commission has ordered Google to bring these self-preferencing practices to an end; and to implement measures to cease its inherent conflicts of interest along the adtech supply chain. Google has 60 days to inform the commission about how it intends to do so.

This is not the first European   Commission decision finding that Google has abused its dominant position in different digital markets to the detriment of European consumers, and the commission increased Google's fine since this is the third time Google breaks the rules of the game, said Teresa Ribera, the   comission ’ s Executive Vice President   and the competition chief.   "Google must now come forward with a serious remedy to address its conflicts of interest, and if it fails to do so, we will not hesitate to impose strong remedies,"   she said.

While the European Commission said a recent U.S. federal court ’ s ruling closely mirrored   those   addressed,   a   U.S. judge   earlier   this week   ruled against drastic penalties, allowing the company to retain its Chrome web browser and Android operating system.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in his rulings   on   Tuesday said Google would   not   have to   sell its Chrome web   browser, rejecting the government ’ s most-stringent demand   including   a   forced   spinoff   of Chrome   and the Android operating system. The judge   said he wouldn ’ t force sweeping changes at Google because the market had changed significantly since the Justice Department sued in 2020.

During a dinner   with Trump on Thursday, Google CEO   Sundra   Pichai   told   the president   h   appreciated   the administration   "had   a   constructive   dialogue".   Trump on Friday said several executives at the dinner complained to him about the taxes they are facing from the European Union, among other countries. "It ’ s just not fair. We don ’ t want that to happen to our companies," he said.  

Google vowed to appeal   right after   the EU ’ s fine   announced. The bloc ’ s move "imposes an unjustified fine and requires changes that will hurt thousands of European businesses by making it harder for them to make money."   said   Lee-Anne Mulholland, vice president for regulatory affairs at Google.