WORLD
Trump orders USTR to start probe into countries levying digital tax on US companies
- IBJ Bureau
- Feb 23, 2025
US President Donald Trump has ordered his trade chief to revive investigations aimed at imposing tariffs on imports from countries that levy digital service taxes on US technology companies.
A White House official, providing details of the order, said that Mr Trump was directing his administration to consider responsive actions like tariffs “to combat the digital service taxes (DSTs), fines, practices and policies that foreign governments levy on American companies”.
“President Trump will not allow foreign governments to appropriate America’s tax base for their own benefit,” the official added.
The memo directs the US Trade Representative’s (USTR) office to renew digital service taxes investigations that were initiated during Mr Trump’s first term and investigate any additional countries that use a digital tax “to discriminate against US companies”, according to a White House fact sheet.
The digital service taxes aimed at dominant US tech giants, including Alphabet’s Google, Meta’s Facebook, Apple and Amazon, have been a longstanding trade irritant for multiple US administrations.
Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, India, Austria and Canada have levied the taxes on sales revenue by these and other digital services providers within their borders.
During Mr Trump’s first term, the USTR had launched Section 301 unfair trade practices against several of these countries, finding that they discriminated against US companies, paving the way for retaliatory tariffs on certain imports.
“What they are doing to us in other countries is terrible with digital,” Mr Trump told reporters ahead of signing his memo.
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