U.S. President Donald Trump meets with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in Turnberry, Scotland, Britain, July 27, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
President Donald Trump vowed Monday to impose “substantial” new tariffs and limit U.S. chip exports for all countries that don’t take away digital taxes and associated rules.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that digital services taxes, or DSTs — that are presently imposed by dozens of countries — “are all designed to harm, or discriminate against, American Technology.”
“I put all Countries with Digital Taxes, Legislation, Rules, or Regulations, on notice that unless these discriminatory actions are removed, I, as President of the United States, will impose substantial additional Tariffs on that Country’s Exports to the U.S.A.,” Trump wrote.
He added that the U.S. would additionally “institute Export restrictions on our Highly Protected Technology and Chips.”
“Show respect to America and our amazing Tech Companies or, consider the consequences!” Trump wrote.
Trump has lengthy sought to strain U.S. commerce companions into dropping the taxes, that are sometimes structured to use solely to the world’s largest and most established tech corporations, like Meta, Alphabet and Amazon. They additionally occur to be American corporations.
Digital service taxes have already confirmed to be a possible make-or-break problem for Trump in his administration’s ongoing commerce negotiations.
In June, he declared that he would lower off all commerce talks with Canada over the tax.
When Ottawa rapidly rescinded its tax simply earlier than it was set to show on, the White House crowed that Canada had “caved” to strain.
Digital services taxes like Canada’s have generated some bipartisan criticism within the United States, house of many of the main tech corporations which might be topic to the levies.
In 2023, the chairman and rating member of the Senate Finance Committee collectively warned the U.S. commerce consultant that Ottawa’s tax would topic “innovative American companies to arbitrary discrimination.”
The countries which enact digital services taxes, nevertheless, argue that huge tech titans like Amazon function inside their borders and generate large income from their residents whereas paying little or no taxes to the respective governments.