US President Donald Trump during a dinner with tech leaders in 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 said were discriminatory fines being levied by Europe against U.S. tech firms such as 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 threat hours after Google caught a nearly $3.5 billion penalty from the European Union in a major antitrust case centered on the search giant’s advertising technology business.
The post also came the day after Trump hosted a dinner at the White House with a gaggle of top tech executives, who took turns praising the president.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai thanked Trump after a U.S. judge issued a favorable ruling in the landmark antitrust case against Alphabet. Pichai said he appreciated the administration’s “constructive dialogue.”
The president complained in his social media post that Europe was “effectively taking money that would otherwise go to American Investments and Jobs.”
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“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 post Friday afternoon, Trump claimed that Google has previously paid $13 billion in “false claims and charges.”
It was unclear where that figure came from, though the company has recently faced a series of hefty regulatory fines.
He also called out the EU for squeezing billions of dollars from Apple in back taxes and fines for alleged anticompetitive practices.
The post claimed that Apple has been fined $17 billion, but that figure appears to include a 2024 court ruling in Ireland ordering the company to pay over $14 billion in back taxes.
Apple “should get their money back!” Trump wrote.