An antitrust fine set to be issued by the European Union Monday over Google’s adtech business was put on temporary hold due to tariff negotiations.
Reuters reported that the fine hold comes as the U.S. and EU are working on a trade deal that would see the U.S. reduce tariffs on European vehicles from 27.5% to 15%. In return, the EU proposed eliminating tariffs on imported U.S. industrial goods.
Amid the negotiations, President Donald Trump warned that he will likely retaliate against any form of punishment imposed on U.S. big tech, putting the antitrust fine in his crosshairs.
EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera was set to announce the fine Monday but did not proceed with it. No official reason explaining the delay was provided.
The fine’s withholding comes as Reuters noted the existence of behind-the-scenes tension between Ribera and EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic, who is questioning Ribera’s ruling on the matter.
A source told Reuters the delay was not expected to last more than one month, with a European Commission spokesperson adding during a daily news conference that the investigation into Google is still ongoing.
“The protection of competition must not become a pawn of the Trump administration,” Tomaso Duso, chairman of Germany’s Monopolies Commission, said in a statement in response to the fine’s delay.
The Alphabet-owned company was set to receive what had been termed a “modest fine” over its adtech unit, which was accused of using its dominant market position to favor its own ad exchange, AdX, when it came to matching auctions. In 2024, Google’s ad revenue accounted for nearly 76% of the tech giant’s total revenue.
In April, after a three-week trial, a U.S. federal judge ruled that Google illegally maintained a monopoly over some of its adtech business. The court found that it violated antitrust law by maintaining monopoly power in two critical areas: publisher ad servers and ad exchanges.
Ad servers are used by publishers to manage their ad inventory, and ad exchanges help publishers sell ad space through supply-side platforms like Google’s AdX product.
The court has not yet determined what structural changes—if any—will be imposed, but the ruling stands out as one of the most aggressive antitrust actions against a U.S. tech company in decades.
