2 hours ago
Last Updated:February 05, 2025, 13:28 IST
Google's core search engine and services are blocked in China, where US internet titans have long struggled with doing business due to the "Great Firewall" that blocks politically sensitive content.
A trade war has begun between the US and China as both countries imposed strict tariffs on imports. (AFP)
China on Tuesday said it would probe US tech giant Google over violations of anti-monopoly laws after Washington slapped 10 per cent levies on Chinese goods.
Beijing’s State Administration for Market Regulation said the US tech giant was “suspected of violating the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China".
It has “launched an investigation into Google in accordance with the law" as a result, the administration said in a statement.
It did not provide further details about the allegations against Google.
The US tech behemoth’s core search engine and many of its services are blocked in mainland China, where US internet titans have long struggled with doing business due to the “Great Firewall" that blocks politically sensitive content.
Google in 2011 abandoned its Chinese-language search engine in the mainland and transferred it to Hong Kong.
By 2014, China blocked the last remaining way to access Google’s email service Gmail.
Beijing also said Tuesday it would add US fashion group PVH Corp. — which owns Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein — and biotech giant Illumina to a list of “unreliable entities".
The move would “safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, in accordance with relevant laws", China’s commerce ministry said in a statement.
“The above two entities violate normal market transaction principles, interrupt normal transactions with Chinese enterprises, and take discriminatory measures against Chinese enterprises," it added.
China in September said it was investigating PVH for an “unreasonable" boycott of cotton from its Xinjiang region, where Beijing is accused of widespread rights violations.
AFP has reached out to all three firms for comment.
The United States on Saturday announced sweeping measures against major trade partners, with goods from China facing an additional 10 percent tariff on top of existing duties.
Trump said the measures aimed to punish countries for failing to halt flows of illegal migrants and drugs including fentanyl into the United States.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed - AFP)Location :Beijing, China
First Published:February 05, 2025, 13:28 IST
News world China To Probe Google Over Anti-Monopoly Laws Amid Trade War With US
