China announces antitrust investigation into Google

China on Tuesday announced an antitrust investigation into Google LLC.

The announcement was made the Communist-run country's State Administration for Market Regulation but not provide details. It came one the same day as China imposed a tariff on U.S. imports in response to President Trump placing a 10% tariff on Chinese imports.  

Although Google services are no longer available in China due to the Chinese Communist Party's censorship laws, the internet search engine behemoth has business operations in the country, including advertising, Google Cloud, and customer service. The company currently has offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. 

The investigation also follows a complicated history between Google and China.  In 2010 Google shut dow its Chinese-language search engine due to an unwillingness to censor search results. The CCP's Great Firewall censorship system later blocked all google services, including gmail.  

Other American companies that China has taken action against include the PHV owned clothing manufactures Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, and the biotech company Illumina.  

All three companies were placed on the "unreliable entity list," a designation given to companies organizations and individuals form outside of China who are banned from entering or conducting business in the country for violating Chinese market regulations.  

China's investigation also comes at the same time as the U.S. seeks to ban TikTok over national security concerns.  Congress voted to ban TikTok and services by its Chinese owned parent company, ByteDance, Ltd., in 2024. Trump signed an executive order in January delaying the ban for 75 days.  He signed a second order on Monday creating a national sovereign wealth fund and spoke about the possibility of using it to buy TikTok.