President Donald Trump has announced a formal investigation into European Union trade practices after the European Commission fined Google a combined €890 million for breaches of the bloc's Digital Markets Act.

Trump accused Brussels of unfairly targeting American technology companies and threatened retaliation, including the possibility of additional tariffs. The move risks turning a long-running disagreement over digital regulation into a broader transatlantic trade dispute.

The Commission issued two penalties on 23 July: €460 million over what it described as self-preferencing by Google Search and €430 million over restrictions preventing app developers from steering users towards alternative, potentially cheaper purchasing channels outside Google Play.

What the Commission found

Under the Digital Markets Act, large online platforms designated as gatekeepers are prohibited from treating their own services more favourably than rival services in search rankings. The Commission said Google gave enhanced prominence to its own shopping, hotel, transport and sports products.

The second decision concerned Google Play. European regulators said developers should be free to inform users about offers available through websites or rival app stores. The Commission concluded that Google's restrictions and steering-related fees went beyond what the law permits.

Google has criticised the decisions and argued that the EU's approach can reduce useful product integration, weaken security and damage the experience of consumers. The company is expected to continue challenging the Commission's interpretation of its obligations.

Washington threatens a response

Trump said the United States would investigate whether the EU's practices unfairly burden American companies. He named Google alongside Apple, Meta, Amazon and other US firms that have faced European regulatory action.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer separately accused the EU of creating uncertainty in the transatlantic trading relationship. Greer said Washington was seeking dialogue but warned that the Commission's actions placed wider commercial stability at risk.

The administration has not yet set out the final scope, timetable or potential remedies of the investigation. Any tariffs linked directly to the Google dispute would require further legal and administrative steps.

Digital sovereignty versus trade retaliation

European officials defend the Digital Markets Act as a competition law designed to ensure that dominant platforms cannot use control of online ecosystems to disadvantage rivals. Brussels argues that the nationality of a company is irrelevant and that the same rules apply to every designated gatekeeper.

Washington increasingly views the same enforcement system as a tool that extracts large payments from successful American businesses and pressures them to transfer technology or redesign products for the European market.

That disagreement is difficult to contain because technology regulation now touches trade, intellectual property, consumer protection and national economic strategy. A penalty imposed in Brussels can quickly become a political issue in Washington.

The immediate dispute concerns Google. The larger question is whether the United States and European Union can maintain a stable economic partnership while holding fundamentally different views about how the world's largest technology companies should be regulated.