In a post on social media, Trump said he was cutting off negotiations with Canada after its government confirmed it would keep in place a digital services tax despite a recent G7 agreement on such levies.
“Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately. We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period. Thank you for your attention to this matter!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Digital services taxes are taxes on tech companies from countries where their products are used. Canada is requiring the first payment of its tech tax on Monday, which will charge 3 percent of revenues above $14.57 million, or 20 million Canadian dollars.
Canada’s big tech tax has been in the works for a while. Some commentators on Friday thought Trump’s social media announcement indicated a lack of planning on the part of the administration, which delivered country-specific tariffs in early April.
“This is a sign the work process on trade from the 2024-2025 presidential transition to April 2nd was horrifically flawed in even more ways than we thought,” Alan Cole of the Tax Foundation wrote on Friday.
The Hill's Sylvan Lane and Tobias Burns has more here.
