The physical intrusion, conducted with “counterparts from the national competition authorities of the Member States,” however, is just “a preliminary investigative step,” Brussels says, and “that the Commission carries out such inspections does not mean that the company in question has indeed received distortive foreign subsidies, nor does it prejudge the outcome of the investigation.”

Even if you think there’s something real here, a raid is pretty heavy handed for an investigation in its early stages. You usually wait until you have basically everything you need, then do the raid, because if you don’t find what you’re looking for you’ve let the target know what you’re doing. In the U.S. you’d need a warrant for this sort of thing, which again means you’re beyond the “preliminary” stages.