The European Commission has not had the best year. It started off with the man they all hoped would go away, Donald Trump, returning to the American presidency. They then became entangled in a massive debate over how many regulations to cut – regulations they had only just put into effect a few years ago. Then, Trump launched a trade war that ultimately forced them to agree to a humiliating, one-sided trade deal which keeps America’s tariffs and will see all the EU’s tariffs ended.
This likely explains the Commission’s announcement last week of a nearly €3 billion fine against Google for abusive practices. Specifically, the European Union found that the company was giving unfair advantage to its own advertising placement services (advertising is extremely lucrative for the platform) and made clear that the only way to avoid the fine would be for Google to sell off its advertising services.
How the Commission reached the fine total (specifically €2.95 billion) is hazy: The guidelines purport to lay out a specific formula, but in reality allow them to levy whatever they feel like, leaving the exact process unknown.
What is not unknown, however, is the response from the American government. Google is an American company, after all, and the American president – Europe’s favourite – was rather upset. President Trump wrote that the fine was “taking money that would otherwise go to American investments and jobs,” adding that it was “very unfair” and that he would “not allow these discriminatory actions to stand.” Trump also wrote that he was considering responding with a Section 301 action, which allows the executive branch to effectively charge Europe for what it deems are unfair practices. It also allows the president to terminate any trade agreements, which could include the recent US-EU trade agreement.
All of this, on the surface, sounds great for Europe. After all, the agreement is extremely unpopular: One survey found that around six out of ten EU citizens are “favourable” to the idea of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen resigning over the deal and slightly over half feel “humiliated” by it. One would think that this Google penalty would be the way out for the Commission: T”hey could let Trump rip up the deal, sound like they are taking a stand against America, throw their international weight around, and show the world that their tangled mass of laws actually have some meaning.
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