Trump weighs tariffs to counteract foreign taxes on tech firms
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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in the Oval Office on Friday.
President Trump on Friday signed a presidential memo directing his administration to evaluate placing tariffs on trading partners that levy taxes and regulations against American tech companies, taking aim at a major trade irritant for companies like Meta and Google. “What they’re doing to us in other countries is terrible with digital," Trump said in the Oval Office on Friday. The memo directs the U.S.
Trade Representative’s office to renew tariff investigations started during Trump’s first term on countries that impose digital services taxes, according to a fact sheet provided by the administration. Those countries include certain European Union member nations, as well as Canada, India and others. Trump has long argued that such taxes unfairly target American firms.
His nominee to serve as U.S. Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, spoke out against the digital service taxes during this confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill this month. The memo also directs agencies to look beyond taxes and devise ways to respond to foreign tech regulations, as well as “unfair fines, practices, and penalties that undermine the ability of American companies to operate as intended," the fact sheet said.
The time frame for the investigations wasn’t immediately laid out by the White House. Trump has separately ordered a number of trade policy reviews to be completed by April 1. Penalizing countries that tax U.S.
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