Donald Trump has blasted the European Union (EU) for fining Google 4.3 billion (3.8 billion) earlier this week, following a lengthy antitrust investigation.
The US President told his Twitter followers "I told you so!" only days after branding the EU one of his biggest "foes" for its trade policies in aninterview withCBS News, and accused the EU of taking advantage of the US - before hinting at retribution.
Adding to his tweet Trump said: "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! [sic]"
The European Commission issued Google with the multi-billion euro fine at the close of a lengthy investigation into the extent to which Android abused its dominance in the mobile devices market.
The competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager concluded Google had abused its power by forcing Android-based device manufacturers to adopt Google's search and web browsing apps, as well as an array of associated Google apps, by default.
Google's dominance as a brand, and its illicit actions, had weighed heavy on a number of competitors, including DuckDuckGo. The alternative search engine spoke out about the effect Google's actions on its business model.
"We welcome the EU cracking down on Google's anti-competitive search behavior. We have felt its effects first hand for many years and has led directly to us having less market share on Android vs iOS and in general mobile vs desktop,"the company tweeted.
But the US President has interpreted the European Commission's decision as an affront to his country, possibly as part of an ongoing and escalating trade dispute.
The sentiment echoes his comments in theCBSinterview, which he gave while in Scotland, where he noted that while having respect for the leaders of EU countries, "in a trade sense they've taken advantage of us".
Trump made his comments in the aftermath of acontentious interview withThe Sunduring a visit to the UK.
Speaking with newspaper, he claimed Theresa May's Brexit latest proposals, dubbed the Chequers plan, was not compatible with a free trade agreement with the US, and that the EU has destroyed its culture by accepting refugees.
The president subsequently branded the interview, which was recorded, as "fake news" when challenged on his claims. He then once againreversed his stancewhen questioned by the journalist who interviewed him, sayingThe Sundid not publish the "nice things" he had said about the prime minister.
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