President Donald Trump signed a memorandum Friday to formally consider using tariffs to counter the digital services taxes some countries impose on US tech giants, a step that could expand a global battle aimed at addressing imbalances in trade.
The memo called for the Office of the US Trade Representative to propose retaliatory measures, including tariffs, on countries that impose digital taxes on US tech companies such as Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc.
The White House is seeking to dissuade foreign governments from collecting tax revenue from US tech companies that operate abroad, according to a fact sheet about the action seen by Bloomberg.
The Trump administration will also review whether any practices in the European Union or UK incentivize US companies to develop products that undermine free speech, according to the fact sheet. Both Trump and Vice President JD Vance have criticized European allies for regulations they say clamp down on conservative voices.
The memo does not set a timeline for enacting tariffs on countries that have approved digital services taxes.
Posted by John3262005
4 Comments
trump seems less powerful as an individual than he was in 1.0, he’s declining cognitively and his advisors/oligarchs seem to be running the show more and more
Do it, tariff everything who fuckin cares
Fuck Trump and all, but these digital services taxes are bullshit money grabs. Hopefully this kills the Canadian one.
We almost got tariffs in response to DSTs during Trump 1.0, and again almost got them during Biden. It’s been a long time coming, and the foreign countries pretty much knew from the outset that this would be the result if they implemented DSTs