China investigates Google in response to Trump’s tariffs

The Chinese government announced the opening of an investigation into Google in response to tariffs of 10% taxes on Chinese imports by the US president, Donald Trump. Minutes after the entry into force of customs rates, China’s state administration for market regulation claimed to be investigating the technological giant of Mountain View for possible violation of the country’s antitrust law.

It is possible that China has strategically opted to persecute Google because its operations in the country are limited, which guarantees that the coup for the US company is relatively minimal. The measure gives China a lot of margin to climb in the event that the Trump administration announce more tariffs or other commercial measures. Google declined to comment.

If the US can also, also China

The Asian country also announced additional restrictions on the sale of some citrus minerals such as tungstenas well as tariffs on agricultural equipment, trucks, liquefied natural gas, coal and other goods from the US. Although the United States does not depend on China for all affected minerals, the country controls most of the world supply of tungsten, which is used in foci, semiconductors and ammunition.

“China’s position is firm and consistent. Commercial and tariff wars have no winners. This measure cannot solve US problems at home and, more importantly, it does not benefit any of the parties, much less To the world, “said China’s Foreign Ministry in a statement launched shortly after tariffs were announced.

During the last years of the commercial war with the US, China has had Google in the sights. According to Reutersin 2020, the Government set out to reopen an antitrust investigation into the Android business of Google. The deliberations occurred following a complaint of the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, which was also in Trump’s sights during his first mandate. Due to US sanctions, Huawei cannot use software Manufactured in the United States, such as Google Mobile Services, a set of tools widely used in the sector of the smartphones. The restrictions forced the company to develop its own operating system, called Harmony OS.

But most of the world’s smartphones continue to work with Android, which has caused competition research in several countries, some of which have resulted in concessional changes designed to offer consumers and applications of applications more options and more options and lower rates. In China, several smartphone manufacturers continue to use an open source version of Android.

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The fragmented Google and China relationship

Last December, the Chinese authorities also opened an antitrust investigation against NVIDIA, the chip manufacturer whose graphic processing units (GPU) play a crucial role in the development of generative AI and have become an important source of commercial clashes between USA and China. The announcement occurred shortly after the Biden Administration hardens China’s access to high -end semiconductors.

About 15 years ago, Google stopped offering a search experience adapted to China after a series of cyberattacks linked to the Chinese government and other US companies. Google considered to re -introduce a search engine about seven years ago, but the project was discarded after the protests of some employees concerned with supporting Chinese surveillance and censorship. Google has also refrained from directly selling cloud technologies in China, since local laws could threaten the privacy and safety guarantees that it offers its customers in other markets. Other Google services, such as YouTube, are blocked by Chinese Internet regulators.

China has allowed national companies to buy ads through Google so they can market with customers abroad. But the income from these agreements is relatively small, and China is not even mentioned in the annual financial report of the Alphabet matrix company last year. This contrasts with goal, which includes China among its largest markets in terms of advertising location; Last year he corroborated that China -based advertisers represent 10% of their annual income.

Article originally published in Wired. Adapted by Alondra Flores.