Nike’s Dutch Tax Status Investigated by EU Regulators

People pass by the flagship store of sporting-goods giant Nike in Shanghai, China, on March 16, 2017. Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images

BRUSSELS—The European Commission has opened an investigation into the tax treatment of Nike Inc. in the Netherlands, saying this may have given the U.S. sportswear maker an illegal advantage.

The Nike case, announced on Jan. 10, follows other probes by the EU executive since 2013 into tax schemes in Belgium, Gibraltar, Luxembourg, Ireland, and the Netherlands it says allow companies to establish structures to reduce their taxes unfairly.