US REALITY TV STAR Donald Trump has hit out at the European Union over the €4.34bn (£3.8bn) fine handed to Google for anticompetitive behaviour. The…
US REALITY TV STAR Donald Trump has hit out at the European Union over the €4.34bn (£3.8bn) fine handed to Google for anticompetitive behaviour.
The European Commission (EC) announced the record-breaking fine on Wednesday after a three-year investigation concluded that Google was in breach of competition law by forcing OEMs to pre-install its search and browser apps in order to licence access to the Google Play Store.
The EC also called out Google for making payments to certain OEMs and mobile operators on the condition that they exclusively pre-installed the Google Search app on their devices and for and barring OEMs from using forked versions of the Android OS.
The ruling, which also demands that Google changes its anticompetitive practices within 90 days, hasn’t gone down well with Trump, host of the Celebrity Apprentice .
« I told you so! The European Union just slapped a Five Billion Dollar fine on one of our great companies, Google. They truly have taken advantage of the U. S., but not for long! » Trump wrote on Twitter, because obviously.
It remains unclear which of his comments he believes was proved correct by the fine, but Trump – star of Home Alone 2 – could be referring to his early remarks that EU competition commissioner « hates the US ».
After the Google fine was issued on Wednesday, Vestager debunked Trump’s remarks, stating at a press conference: « I very much like the US. »
Trump’s child-like comments come amid escalating tensions between the US and Europe. When Trump was asked last week to identify his biggest foe globally, he replied: « Well, I think we have a lot of foes. I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now, you wouldn’t think of the European Union, but they’re a foe. » µ
