The Chinese government announced on Tuesday that it opened an investigation into Google in response to 10% of prices imposed on Chinese imports by US President Donald Trump. A few minutes after the entry into force of the prices, the administration of the state of China for market regulations said that it was sounding in survey the giant of American technology to have potentially violated the anti-monopoly law of the country.
The Chinese government may have strategically chosen to continue Google, as it has limited operations in the country, ensuring that the blow for the American technology giant would be relatively minimal. This decision gives China a lot of space to increase if the Trump administration announces other prices or other commercial measures. Google refused to comment.
China also announced that it brought more restrictions on the sale of certain critical minerals such as tungsten and slap of additional prices on agricultural equipment, vans, liquefied natural gas, coal and other goods from UNITED STATES. Although the United States does not depend on China for all affected minerals, the country controls the majority of the global supply of tungsten, which is used in bulbs, semiconductors and ammunition.
“The position of China is firm and consistent. Trade and price wars have no winners, “said the Chinese Foreign Ministry statement Sunday, shortly after the prices were announced. “This decision cannot solve the problems of the United States at home and, more importantly, does not benefit one or the other side, even less the world.”
China has kept Google in its reticle during the current trade war with the United States in recent years. In 2020, the government would have Considered the opening An antitrust survey on Google’s Android activities, according to Reuters. The deliberations followed a complaint from the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, which was targeted by Trump during his first mandate.
Due to American sanctions, Huawei is unable to use American manufacturing software such as Google Mobile Services, a series of tools widely used in the smartphones industry. The restrictions forced the company to develop its own operating system called Harmony OS.
But most smartphones Around the world always flows On Android, which has triggered surveys in competition in a number of countries, some of which have led to concessional changes designed to give consumers and developers of applications more choices and lower costs. In China, several smartphones manufacturers Continue to rely on an open source version of Android.
Last December, the Chinese authorities also opened an anti-monopoly survey on NVIDIA, the flea manufacturer whose GPU played a crucial role in the development of generative AI and became an important combat source between the United States and China. The announcement came shortly after the Biden administration has still tightened China access to high-end semiconductors.
About 15 years ago, Google decree A research experience adapted to China following a series of cyber attacks linked to the Chinese government against it and other American companies. Google discussed China’s reintegration with a search engine about seven years ago, but the project was scuttled Following the protests of certain employees anxious to support Chinese surveillance and censorship.
Google has also stopped selling cloud technologies directly in China, as local laws could threaten confidentiality and security insurance it offers to customers on other markets. Other Google services such as YouTube are blocked by Chinese Internet regulators.
China has enabled national companies to buy advertisements via Google so that they can market customers abroad. But the revenues of these transactions are relatively low, and China has not even aroused mention in the parent company Alphabet Annual financial report Last year. Which contrasts with Meta, What lists China among its largest markets in terms of advertisers’ location and said last year that advertisers based in China represent 10% of its annual income.