US President Donald Trump said he would be forced to take action in response to the EU's decision to fine the US company Google USD 3.5 billion.
“Today Europe hit another major US company - Google - with a fine of USD 3.5 billion, effectively taking away money that would otherwise have gone to American investment and jobs“, he wrote in Truth Social. “We cannot allow this to happen with the brilliant and unprecedented American ingenuity, and if it does, I will be forced to invoke Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to neutralize the unfair penalties imposed on these American tax-paying companies,“ Trump said.
Section 301 gives the US president the authority to take all appropriate measures, including raising tariffs, to combat policies or actions of other countries that adversely affect US trade or are inconsistent with international agreements.