The European Union is taking upon itself the authority to restructure the U.S. economy. In its latest move, the EU imposed a staggering $3.45 billion fine on Google for alleged antitrust violations and signaled that “only the divestment” of Google’s components would resolve the matter. In the meantime, France fined Google 325 million euros over privacy issues. These moves raise concerns about Europe’s motives, opacity, disregard for international comity, and broader agenda to target successful American companies.
For the United States, the moves raise the prospect that foreign regulators, motivated by protectionist impulses and budgetary constraints, may assume the authority to restructure innovative American companies. As President Trump wrote in a message that should resonate across the Atlantic, “We cannot let this happen to brilliant and unprecedented American ingenuity.”
Europe’s latest fines are part of a pattern in which it deliberately uses exorbitant penalties to transfer wealth from American companies, workers and shareholders to European coffers. As outlined in an extensive study, the Europeans afford themselves “significant fining authority” and “maximum discretion” to impose billions of dollars in fines on American companies based on ambiguous statutes. To date, the “fines against American companies have been orders of magnitude larger than those imposed on domestic firms.”
As Trump pointed out, Google has paid “$13 Billion Dollars in false claims … How crazy is that?”
Indeed, the fines’ size and opacity call into question whether U.S. firms in Europe can receive even a semblance of due process. Despite issuing a multibillion-dollar fine, the EU provided almost no clarity on its calculation, saying only that it “considered various elements,” such as “the duration and gravity of the infringement,” Google’s European ad turnover, and past fines on Google.
The EU, however, never explained whether the fine correlated with actual consumer harm or higher prices. Fines of this magnitude, untethered to demonstrable harm, appear to transform enforcement actions into revenue-generating schemes. The EU’s lack of transparency undermines trust and raises questions about its commitment to due process.
Even more concerning is the EU’s desire to break apart Google as a remedy. Such an unprecedented move would shatter norms of international law enforcement comity. The United States, home to Google and its parent company, Alphabet, has a robust antitrust framework.
Emphatically, it is not the place of Europe to dictate the structure of an American company, especially when U.S. courts and regulators are actively considering similar issues. The EU’s overreach infringes on U.S. sovereignty, creating a chaotic and fragmented regulatory environment.
Notably, the EU is imposing these drastic remedies for conduct that is, at worst, ambiguous from a competitive standpoint. The conduct at the heart of the EU’s case — so-called “self-preferencing” — is a common and often pro-competitive practice among vertically integrated companies. Retailers promote their private-label products, streaming platforms highlight their original content, and countless other businesses engage in similar practices. While it is true that a federal court has found Google’s practices problematic (a decision subject to appeal), any remedies should tie directly to consumer harm and consider that similar conduct has often been found to be pro-competitive.
Beyond the facts of this case, the fine raises broader concerns for the Western alliance and the race for global technological supremacy. Excessive fines and aggressive regulatory actions risk stifling innovation and investment while benefiting Chinese companies, which often operate with significant state support and fewer regulatory constraints.
In his AI Action Plan, Trump declared that “it is a national security imperative for the United States to achieve and maintain unquestioned and unchallenged global technological dominance,” a goal that “requires the Federal government to create the conditions where private-sector-led innovation can flourish.”
How can American companies innovate to their fullest potential when foreign regulators threaten them with dismemberment and exorbitant multibillion-dollar fines? At a time when the global tech race is intensifying, the EU’s actions could suppress innovation and investment.
Benjamin Franklin’s famous political cartoon, Join or Die, highlighted the importance of American unity in the face of European incursions. Today, consistent with Trump’s position, U.S. policymakers and private enterprise must stand together in defending America’s economy and sovereignty from discriminatory and excessive regulatory actions.
