China announced retaliatory measures against the U.S., including tariffs on coal, LNG, and crude oil, along with an antitrust probe into Google.

Two U.S. firms were placed on China’s unreliable entity list, restricting their investments in the country.

Google’s history in China dates back to 2006, but it shut down its search engine there in 2010 due to censorship concerns.

Beijing later blocked all Google services, including Gmail and Chrome, under its Great Firewall.

Despite this, Google maintains a presence in China, focusing on advertising, cloud services, and customer solutions.

China’s market regulator announced an antitrust investigation into Google but provided few details.

The probe was revealed shortly after U.S. tariffs took effect, raising suspicions it is part of the trade war.

Experts believe the investigation may target Google’s dominance in the Android smartphone market.

Huawei, previously restricted by U.S. sanctions, developed its own HarmonyOS to replace Android, the Associated Press has reported.

Google has faced antitrust scrutiny in multiple countries, including the EU, South Korea, and India.

Written by B.C. Begley