BRUSSELS, March 19 (Reuters) - Alphabet unit

Google was hit with two charges of breaching landmark EU rules

on Wednesday, as antitrust regulators continued their crackdown

against Big Tech.

The move by the European Commission came amid tensions with

U.S. President Donald Trump who has threatened to levy tariffs

against countries which impose fines on U.S. companies.

Google has been in the European Commission's crosshairs

since March last year over whether it restricts app developers

from informing users about offers outside its app store Google

Play and whether it favours its vertical search services such as

Google Flights.

The EU competition watchdog on Wednesday issued preliminary

findings charging Google of allegedly breaching the Digital

Markets Act which aim to rein in the power of Big Tech,

confirming a Reuters story on Feb. 21.

The first charge concerned Google's practices on its app

store Google Play. Regulators said Alphabet technically prevents

app developers from freely steering consumers to other channels

for better offers.

They said a service fee charged by the company for

facilitating the initial acquisition of a new customer by an app

developer via Google Play go beyond what is justified.

In the second charge, regulators said Google favoured its

own services such as Google Shopping, Google Hotels and Google

Flights over rivals.

"The two preliminary findings we adopt today aim to ensure

that Alphabet abides by EU rules when it comes to two services

widely used by businesses and consumers across the EU, Google

Search and Android phones," EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera

said in a statement.

Google has previously said some airlines, hotels and

retailers have voiced concerns about the impact of the DMA.

The company, which has been fined more than 8 billion euros

($8.7 billion) by the EU in the last decades for various

antitrust violations, risks fines of up to 10% of its global

annual sales if found guilty of breaching the DMA.

($1 = 0.9163 euros)