A White House official said US President Donald Trump signed a note to impose a tariff on countries that imposed digital service taxes on American technology companies.
Another official, who provides the details of the matter, said that Trump was directing his administration to consider responsive measures such as the customs tariff “to combat digital service taxes (DSTS), fines, practices, and policies imposed by foreign governments on American companies.”
“President Trump will not allow foreign governments to suit the tax base of America for its own benefit,” the official said.
The official said that the memorandum directed the American Trade Representative’s office to renew the investigations of the digital service taxes that started during the first period of Trump, and to investigate any additional countries that use a digital tax “to discriminate against American companies.”
Trump said last week that he would impose a tariff on Canada and France because of their digital services taxes, and that the White House Fact newspaper that was issued at that time said that “America should only be allowed to impose taxes on American companies.”
I complained that Canada and France used taxes for each of them collecting more than $ 500 million annually from American companies.
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“In general, these unacceptable taxes cost American companies that are more than two billion dollars a year. The fact newspaper said: No more details were given.
The digital service taxes targeting American technology giants including Google’s Google, Meta’s Facebook, Apple and Amazon were a source of commercial conflicts for years.
Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, India, Austria and Canada imposed taxes, which were imposed on revenues gained from digital services sold within its borders.
The American Trade Representative Office was found during the first period of Trump’s mandate to distinguish against American companies and prepared the reprisals.
Catherine Tae, President of Trade at President Joe Biden, followed these investigations and announced a 25 % tariff on imports of more than two billion dollars from six countries, but immediately commented immediately allowing negotiations on a global tax deal to continue.
These negotiations led to the minimum global company tax by 15 % that the US Congress has never believed. Talks on the second component, which aims to create an alternative to digital taxes, have stopped significantly without any agreement.
On his first day in his post, Trump made the United States to withdraw the United States effectively from the global tax arrangement with nearly 140 countries, announcing that the global minimum global taxes by 15 % “there is no power or impact in the United States” and they ask the US Treasury to prepare options for its benefit “Preventive measures.”
A new Trump order can allow the recycling of USTR duties. It is designed to compensate for the amount of the collected digital service taxes.
In 2021, USTR said it would impose a 25 % tariff on about $ 887 million of goods from Britain, including clothes, shoes, cosmetics, and about $ 386 million of goods from Italy, including clothes, handbags and visual lenses.
Ustr said at the time that it would impose a tariff on goods worth $ 323 million from Spain, 310 million dollars from Turkey, $ 118 million from India and $ 65 million from Austria. USTR was suspended separately on the customs tariffs on French cosmetics of $ 1.3 billion, handbags and other commodities.
