BRUSSELS, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Alphabet's Google

was hit with a 2.95-billion-euro ($3.45 billion) EU antitrust

fine on Friday for anti-competitive practices in its lucrative

adtech business, marking its fourth penalty in its decade long

fight with EU competition regulators.

The move by the European Commission was triggered by a

complaint from the European Publishers Council and comes amid a

threat by U.S. President Donald Trump to retaliate against the

European Union for any push against Big Tech.

The EU competition enforcer had originally planned to hand

out the fine on Monday but opposition from EU trade chief Maros

Sefcovic on concerns about the impact on U.S. tariffs on

European cars derailed EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera's plan.

The Commission said Google favoured its own online display

technology services to the detriment of rivals and online

publishers and that it abused its market power since 2014 until

today.

It ordered Google to stop the self-preferencing practices

and take measures to cease its inherent conflicts of interest.

The company has 60 days to inform the Commission how it plans to

comply with this order.

The Commission reiterated its preliminary view that Google

should divest part of its services but said it wants to first

hear and assess Google's compliance efforts.

"Google must now come forward with a serious remedy to

address its conflicts of interest, and if it fails to do so, we

will not hesitate to impose strong remedies," Ribera said in a

statement.

"Digital markets exist to serve people and must be grounded

in trust and fairness. And when markets fail, public

institutions must act to prevent dominant players from abusing

their power," she said.

Google criticised the EU decision and said it would

challenge it in court.

"The European Commission's decision about our ad tech

services is wrong and we will appeal. It imposes an unjustified

fine and requires changes that will hurt thousands of European

businesses by making it harder for them to make money," Lee-Anne

Mulholland, Vice President, Global Head of Regulatory Affairs,

said in a statement.

"There's nothing anticompetitive in providing services for

ad buyers and sellers, and there are more alternatives to our

services than ever before."

The latest fine compared with a record 4.3 billion euro

penalty handed out to Google in 2018, 2.42 billion euros in 2017

and a 1.49 billion euros in 2019.

Reuters reported last week that the fine would be modest,

marking a change in Ribera's approach with her predecessor's

deterrent hefty fines.

($1 = 0.8542 euros)