Trump attacks EU over fine on Google

US President Donald Trump on Thursday slammed the EU for fining Google $5 billion for harming its competitors, tweeting that the incident proved that the bloc has "taken advantage of the US, but not for long!"

To Trump, the fine appeared to serve as the latest proof of Europe's exploitation of the US on a variety of matters, including trade and nations' contributions to defence spending and it came a day after he threatened "tremendous retribution", particularly on European-made cars, if the EU doesn't change its trade policies.

On Wednesday, the EU said that Google harmed consumers and competitors for pushing its search and web-browsing tools on the makers of Android-equipped mobile devices.

The EU's penalty stood in stark contrast with the US, where federal anti-trust regulators previously investigated Google's search and advertising businesses but concluded their probe in 2013 without bringing major penalties against the tech giant, the Washington Post reported.

Since then, Democrats and Republicans alike mused whether the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), an independent agency, should open a new investigation.

"The FTC should end its decade of inaction and deference and confront the mounting evidence that Google's business practices stifled robust competition in a market that is critical to our economy and society," said Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal in a statement on Wednesday.

"Europe should not be alone setting the agenda."

A White House spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

--IANS

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