WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday kept up his pressure on global tech giant Google days after his Treasury secretary ruled out any national security concerns over the company’s work in China.
Trump, in a tweet, did not offer any evidence of a problem with Google’s business in China but said if there were any issues, his administration would find out about it.
On Wednesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he and Trump had both had direct talks with Google’s chief executive and were assured that the tech company’s work with China was “very, very limited.”
“The president and I did diligence on this issue, and we’re not aware of any areas where Google working with the Chinese government in a way that in any way raises concerns,” Mnuchin told CNBC in an interview. “Google is an American company that wants to help out the U.S.”
Trump has repeatedly slammed U.S. technology companies, including Google, and alleged without offering any evidence that they have discriminated against him and fellow conservatives. He met with Google CEO Sundar Pichai at a White House meeting on Monday with a number of other top tech executives.
“There may or may not be National Security concerns with regard to Google and their relationship with China. If there is a problem, we will find out about it. I sincerely hope there is not!!!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Representatives for Google, part of Alphabet Inc, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Alphabet’s stock was up 9.8% at $1,247 a share in late morning trading on the Nasdaq.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey and David Shepardson in Washington; Additional reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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