Trump's Proposed Tariffs on Canada and France Due to Digital Services Taxes

On February 13, President Donald Trump announced his intention to impose tariffs on Canada and France due to their digital services taxes targeting U.S. tech giants. Canada introduced the tax in June last year to address the challenge of taxing companies like Google parent Alphabet and Amazon.com that shift profits to low-tax countries.

Trump directed his economic team to develop a strategy for imposing tariffs on any country imposing duties on U.S. imports. A White House statement argued that only the U.S. should tax American firms, alleging that Canada and France each collect over $500 million annually from U.S. companies through digital services taxes, totaling over $2 billion yearly in combined costs.

The statement claimed that reciprocal tariffs are necessary for fair trade and to prevent Americans from being exploited. The Biden administration had initiated trade dispute consultations with Canada on the tax issue the previous year, denouncing it as discriminatory.

At the time of the report, the office of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not reachable for immediate comment.