President Trump on Friday threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on goods from any country that levies a digital services tax on U.S. technology companies, writing on Truth Social that the penalty would take effect immediately and would override existing trade agreements.
The threat reopens a front Trump shelved last week when Washington and Brussels finalized a new trade deal, and it puts at least five European governments, including three EU members already collecting the tax, on notice that any move to introduce or expand a digital levy will trigger retaliation that the White House says will "supersede" the agreements it just signed.
What Trump said
"Please let this statement serve to represent that any Country that imposes such a Tax will immediately be met with a 100% TARIFF on any and all Goods sent to the United States of America," Trump wrote, the BBC reported. He singled out "numerous European countries" that he said were close to adopting such levies, and warned of "imminent implementation."
In a separate line cited by CNBC, Trump wrote that the duty "will supersede Trade Deals made with the Country, whether implemented, signed, or not," and would "be immediately imposed" if countries proceeded.
Who already taxes
Britain has collected a 2 percent digital services tax since 2020 on search engines, social media platforms and online marketplaces with global digital revenues above 500 million pounds and U.K. revenues above 25 million pounds, the BBC reported. The levy raised more than 800 million pounds in 2024-25, up from 678 million pounds the year before, and falls largely on Apple, Google, Meta and Amazon.
France, Italy and Spain each impose a 3 percent levy on large digital firms, and more than a dozen countries worldwide have adopted similar taxes, according to the Tax Foundation. Amazon raised seller fees earlier this year and cited those taxes.
The legal question
It is not clear what statute would let Trump impose country-specific tariffs by post. The Supreme Court in February struck down his earlier attempt at a global 10 percent tariff under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, CNBC noted, and the 10 percent duty Trump revived hours after that defeat, under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, expires after 150 days without congressional approval.
The administration has nonetheless rolled out 10 percent to 12.5 percent duties on dozens of trading partners over forced-labor claims since then.
Counterpoint
No EU member-state government issued a same-day response captured in the BBC or CNBC reports. The closest pushback in the dossier came from Cyprus, whose energy, commerce and industry minister, Michael Damianos, said when the U.S.-EU deal was signed that "the EU can respond swiftly and proportionately when the deal is not respected or its interests are at stake." The U.K. Treasury and Department for Business and Trade had not responded by the BBC's deadline.
The immediate test will be whether any of the European capitals Trump has in mind blink before publishing draft legislation. Britain is already weighing changes to its digital services tax to avoid U.S. tariffs, the BBC reported.