The State Administration for Market Regulation stated that it would launch the investigation due to alleged violations of China’s anti-monopoly regulations, as per an unofficial translation of the statement by Google.
The probe comes shortly after China unveiled increased tariffs on specific U.S. imports. The Chinese finance ministry revealed plans to impose a 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas shipments from the U.S. effective from February 10. Additionally, they will raise duties by 10% on American crude oil, agricultural machinery, and select vehicles.
Google is currently under regulatory scrutiny in multiple jurisdictions, including the U.S. Following a lawsuit filed by the U.S. government in 2020, where they accused Google of monopolizing the search market through anti-competitive practices, the Department of Justice advocated in November for Google to divest its Chrome browser and forbade it from making exclusionary deals with companies like Apple and Samsung.
Meanwhile, the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority is also investigating Google to determine if it holds “strategic market status” under the new UK statute.
