After record Google fine, EU's ‘tax lady’ says she likes the US

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said she "very much liked" the United States, countering a reported remark by President Donald Trump that she "hated" the country because of her antitrust actions against US firms.

"I very much like the US," Vestager told a news conference to announce a record fine on Google after she was asked about what Trump was quoted as saying at a G7 summit last month.

The US president told Vestager's boss, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, "your tax lady, she hates the US", according to summit participants.

That appeared to be a reference to her pursuit of Apple Inc and other US companies for channelling profits through low-tax EU states.

Vestager said that as a Dane she was predisposed to feel positive toward the United States.

"But the fact is that this has nothing to do with how I feel. Nothing whatsoever. Just as enforcing competition law, we do it in the world, but we do not do it in political context," she added.

Vestager added she would continue to enforce competition law, no matter the political context.

EU regulators hit Google with a record 4.34 billion euros ($5 billion) antitrust fine on Wednesday for using its Android mobile operating system to squeeze out rivals.

The penalty is nearly double the previous record of 2.4 billion euros which the US tech company was ordered to pay last year over its online shopping search service.

It represents just over two weeks of revenue for Google parent Alphabet Inc. and would scarcely dent its cash reserves of $102.9 billion. But it could add to a brewing trade war between Brussels and Washington.