China is geared up to launch a potential antitrust investigation into American tech giant Google.

As reported by Reuters, Chinese officials may choose to look into allegations made by telecoms giant Huawei, who has claimed that Google has used its Android system to prevent competition.

However, there is no concrete decision on whether or not the country will move forward with the investigation, although it is thought a choice could be made next month.

Moreover, relations between China and the US are tense to say the least, and given Trump's recent attack on Chinese short-form app TikTok, China could well go ahead with the investigation.

Big damage

Furthermore, US president Trump and his administration have a hundred various Chinese firms, including Huawei, which have been blacklisted.

As a result, Google is unable to provide support for new and future mobile phones created by Huawei, it also prevents the telecoms giant from getting access to Google Mobile Services.

The Chinese company has been financially damaged due to the action the US took against it. In 2019, Huawei missed its revenue targets by $12 billion.

Lessons learned

The Asian country would not be the first nation to launch an investigation into the Alphabet-owned company.

In 2018, the European Union found that Google was guilty of breaching antitrust rules, as a result the company was fined $5.1 billion. More specifically, the company forced phone makers to install its own apps and search engine on Android devices.

“China will also look at what other countries have done, including holding inquiries with Google executives,” said a source.