Another day, another duel of Musketeer Tim Cook vs. one of their multiple Richeliu’s. Now in Europe.

The European Commission has concluded that Ireland granted undue tax benefits of up to €13 billion to Apple, allowing the US company to pay substantially less tax than other businesses, and ruling that Ireland must now recover the illegal aid.

Tim Cook has promptly answered with an open letter in which he states that Apple is proud of its contributions to local economies across Europe, and to communities everywhere:

As our business has grown over the years, we have become the largest taxpayer in Ireland, the largest taxpayer in the United States, and the largest taxpayer in the world.

He adds that the European Commission is trying to rewrite Apple’s history in Europe, an unprecedented move with serious, wide-reaching implications.

Irish finance minister Michael Noonan has declared that EU Apple tax ruling is bizarre—an exercise in politics by the Competition Commission—and that Ireland will appeal against the European Commission’s ruling forcing it to recover billions in back-taxes from Apple.

A nice love triangle, or square because this time Apple comes also with the US government by its side: Stop your tax crackdown on American companies or be prepared to suffer the consequences…

We’ve seen this before… haven’t we? And we know how it will end.