President Donald Trump announced Thursday his intention to impose tariffs on Canada and France in response to their digital services taxes on U.S. tech companies.
This has been a source of long-standing contention. In June of the previous year, Canada introduced a tax aimed at major digital corporations like Google’s parent company, Alphabet, and Amazon.com, which often record their earnings in low-tax jurisdictions.
Trump has directed his economic team to develop a strategy to apply reciprocal tariffs to every nation that imposes taxes on U.S. imports. According to a White House fact sheet, the U.S. stance is that “only America should be allowed to tax American firms.” The document criticized Canada and France for exploiting digital services taxes to extract over $500 million annually from U.S. businesses.
White House singles out Canada's digital tax as Trump announces new tariff plan https://t.co/pC8KiYqRF4
— CTV News (@CTVNews) February 13, 2025“These unilateral taxes cause American firms to lose over $2 billion annually. By implementing reciprocal tariffs, we aim to restore equity and vitality to the skewed international trade framework and protect American interests,” the fact sheet noted, without providing additional specifics.
Previously, during the Biden administration, the U.S. had initiated trade dispute settlement talks with Canada, labelling the tax as discriminatory. As of this report, the office of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not responded to requests for comment.
