Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs and export restrictions on countries that levy digital taxes or introduce regulations targeting major American technology firms, including Google, Meta, Amazon and Apple.
Writing on his social media platform, Truth Social, the US president claimed that “digital taxes, legislation, rules or regulations are all designed to harm, or discriminate against, American technology”.
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He singled out the UK’s digital services tax (DST), introduced in 2020, which raises around £800m annually through a 2% levy on revenues of global tech firms.
Trump said such measures “outrageously give a complete pass to China’s largest tech companies”.
“As president of the United States, I will stand up to countries that attack our incredible American tech companies,” he said.
“Unless these discriminatory actions are removed, I will impose substantial additional tariffs on that country’s exports to the USA, and institute export restrictions on our highly protected technology and chips.”
The warning places pressure on both the UK and the European Union, which have sought to rein in the dominance of US tech companies through measures such as the EU’s Digital Services Act.
Several member states, including France, Italy and Spain, also maintain digital services taxes.
In February, Trump issued an executive order titled Defending American Companies and Innovators from Overseas Extortion and Unfair Fines and Penalties, threatening retaliatory tariffs over such measures.
Reports in April suggested Keir Starmer had offered to reduce the headline rate of the DST for American companies in an effort to placate Washington, while keeping it in place for firms from other countries.
“America, and American technology companies, are neither the ‘piggy bank’ nor the ‘doormat’ of the world any longer,” Trump said.
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“Show respect to America and our amazing tech companies or consider the consequences.”
The warning came a week after the US and EU issued a joint statement pledging to “address unjustified trade barriers”.
