By Edith Hancock

The European Commission moved forward with the enforcement of its digital antitrust rules on Apple and Alphabet's Google amid rising trade tensions with the U.S. over treatment of American tech giants.

The commission said Wednesday it is concerned that Google's search results display--and its terms for app developers using its Play Store on Android phones--break the rules of the DMA by giving Google's own tech an unfair advantage over others.

Under the DMA, companies the EU designates as "gatekeepers" aren't allowed to treat their own services more favorably in ranking than similar services of third parties.

Google said in a blog post the EU's competition rules are "hurting consumers and businesses".

The commission also told Apple what it thinks it should do to make its iOS devices interoperable with rivals' products, from headphones to smart watches and virtual reality headsets, to comply with the Digital Markets Act. That includes obliging Apple to improve smartwatch and headphone manufacturers' experience on iPhone and iPad operating systems and make it easier for users to pair their devices.

An Apple spokesperson said the decisions "wrap us in red tape, slowing down Apple's ability to innovate for users in Europe and forcing us to give away our new features for free to companies who don't have to play by the same rules."

Apple said it would continue to work with the European Commission to help it understand the concerns.

The bloc's regulators opened two so-called specification procedures last September to give Apple instructions to make its products more accessible to third-party developers. Apple is legally required to implement the measures the commission specified.

Meanwhile, the EU has spent the best part of the year investigating Apple, Google and Meta over concerns the companies' ubiquitous products fall foul of the DMA. The commission is expected to get to the final stages of its Apple and Meta probes next week, having already charged the companies for potentially breaking the rules last year.

The decisions on Apple and Google have landed in the eye of an escalating trade war between the U.S. and EU. The Trump Administration formally imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports last week, prompting the EU to hit back with retaliatory tariffs on a broad range of products that include a 50% levy on American whiskey due to kick in next month. Trump, in turn, threatened to impose a 200% tariff on European wine and spirits.

The bloc's antitrust enforcement has already drawn ire from Trump over claims that multi-billion euro fines it has handed Alphabet, Apple and Meta in recent years amount to a tax on successful American tech companies. The U.S. President issued a memo last month saying his administration will scrutinize how the EU enforces regulations like the DMA, saying the U.S. is considering retaliatory measures--like more tariffs to--"combat the digital service taxes (DSTs), fines, practices, and policies that foreign governments levy on American companies."

Write to Edith Hancock at edith.hancock@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 19, 2025 11:31 ET (15:31 GMT)

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