Chinese anti-trust authorities are reportedly considering investigating Apple following Google. Analysts say Silicon Valley Big Tech, which has emerged as a key ally of U.S. President Donald Trump as the trade war begins, could be a major target for retaliation.
Citing multiple sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported on the 5th (local time) that China’s National Market Supervision and Management Bureau is preparing an investigation into Apple’s in-app payment and commission policy. The plan is to look at Apple’s practice of taking up to 30% of fees from in-app payments and prohibiting external payments. Apple’s practice was also raised as a problem in the European Union (EU) and was revised last year following the enforcement of the EU Digital Market Act (DMA).
Chinese authorities have been discussing policy changes with Apple executives since last year. If Apple refuses to change its policy, the authorities could launch an official investigation.
Critics point out that China’s investigation into Apple could be a new spark for the U.S.-China conflict because it could take place amid the start of a slugfest between the two countries, starting with the U.S. imposition of tariffs on China. The Trump administration began imposing additional 10% tariffs on Chinese imports at 0:01 on the 4th, and China announced the launch of an anti-trust investigation into Google along with retaliatory tariffs and export controls of major minerals as if it had been waiting. China is not the only country. In Canada, where the tariff grace period was applied on the 30th, Ontario broke a $100 million contract with his satellite telecommunications company Starlink to directly target Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is a second-term heavyweight in Trump’s administration.
Simon Lester, a trade lawyer at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, said, “Big tech is not only important in the U.S. economy, but it is easy to be targeted for retaliation in that it has formed an alliance with Trump.”
Unlike his first term in office, President Trump has recently shown off his strong relationship with Silicon Valley. Not only has Musk become a heavyweight in his second term in office, but Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos have also shown their influence and status by being assigned the “head of the table” at the inauguration of President Trump.
The EU, which has been designated as President Trump’s next tariff target, is also poised to target U.S. big tech as one of the retaliatory measures. The Financial Times (FT) reported on the 4th that the EU Commission, which is an EU administration, is considering using the Trade Threat Response Measures (ACI), which took effect in 2023, as a potential retaliatory measure against Trump’s tariffs. The ACI is a law that allows the EU and its member states to take a wide range of counter-measures not only in trade in goods but also in trade in services and investments if it is judged that a third country poses a trade threat.
JENNIFER KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
