By Vivian Salama 

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the European Union's $5 billion antitrust fine on Alphabet Inc.'s Google is evidence that the bloc has "taken advantage of the U.S.," and suggested that change is on the way.

"I told you so!" Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. "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!"

The fine on Google and Mr. Trump's sharp response come amid a growing trade battle between the U.S. and EU over what Mr. Trump says are unfair trade practices. Mr. Trump has repeatedly threatened auto tariffs on top of the steel and aluminum tariffs imposed earlier this year if European leaders cannot come to a fair agreement with the U.S.

On Wednesday, Mr. Trump threatened "tremendous retribution" if his meeting with EU officials next week doesn't yield a fair auto-trade deal. Mr. Trump said recently he considers the EU "a foe" on trade, but invited European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to visit the White House next Wednesday.

Nations hit by new U.S. tariffs -- from Mexico to China -- have launched countermeasures of their own, which so far target $24 billion worth of American-made goods, a figure that is set to increase.

Mr. Trump has justified the tariffs on national-security grounds.

Following a long investigation, the EU's antitrust regulator found Wednesday that Google had abused the dominance of its Android operating system, which runs more than 80% of the world's smartphones, to promote and entrench the company's cash-cow search engine. Google, which said it would appeal the decision, has rejected the EU's contention.

The fine, Europe's largest so far related to antitrust issues, is equivalent to about 40% of Google's 2017 net profit of $12.62 billion.

Brussels has demanded to give players including smartphone makers and mobile carriers more leverage to extract payments from Google and its rivals.

Write to Vivian Salama at Vivian.Salama@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 19, 2018 11:07 ET (15:07 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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