China announced on Tuesday that it started an antitrust study into Google for alleged violation of the country's anti-monopolic law. An official notification of the Chinese state administration for market regulations confirmed that the Android maker had been investigated in accordance with the law.
Google is already being examined because of its monopolistic practices in various countries around the world, including the home country, where it lost a historical matter last year. However, the timing of China's announcement of the new action against Google is suspected, since the research has entered into force shortly after the rates of 10 percent of American goods have entered American goods.
While Google Search and the other internet services of the Tech giant have not been available in China since 2010, the company still has present in the Asian country, mainly through its advertising company, Bloomberg reported.
Apart from Google, China also took action against the American fashion group PVH Corp (owner of Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, among others) and added to the list of “unreliable entities”.
Beijing responds to American rates:
Apart from the action against Google and other American companies, China has also announced plans to impose 10% rates on various American goods, such as crude oil, agricultural machinery, pick-ups and high-quality cars such as sports cars with large engine.
“The unique rate increase of the US seriously violates the rules of the World Trade Organization,” said the Chinese Ministry of Trade in a statement.
“It is not only useless in solving his own problems, but also damages the normal economic and trade cooperation between China and the US,” the explanation added.
Google's regulatory problems at home:
In August last year, Google lost a case against the US Department of Justice in which the court found the company guilty of violating antitrust laws by maintaining monopolistic control over the search and advertising markets.
“After he had carefully considered and weighed the witness statement and the proof, the court comes to the next conclusion: Google is a monopolist and it has acted as one to maintain his monopoly,” the ruling stated.