Trump threatens tariffs for countries that levy digital tax on US firms

The Republican leader has taken an aggressive stance against countries that weigh taxes or regulations on US tech firms.United States President Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 100 percent Tariff on any country that implements a digital service tax on US tech companies, adding that the new tariffs would override any previous agreements.The message came in a Truth Social post on Friday, and Trump named Europe as a possible targets for the tariffs.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3How Trump is relaunching a Tariff war citing ‘forced labour’ concernslist 2 of 3Canada’s Carney and Trump meet at the White House as trade tensions loomlist 3 of 3How social media is turning African life into content at a costend of listThe threat is the latest of Trump’s measures to aggressively counter efforts to regulate the country’s tech giants overseas.“Numerous European Countries have been discussing the imminent implementation of a Digital Services Tax on American Companies. Some of these Countries are close to actually doing this,” Trump wrote.“Please let this statement serve to represent that any Country that imposes such a Tax will immediately be met with a 100 percent Tariff on any and all Goods sent to the United States of America.”The Republican leader has previously warned countries against imposing taxes or regulations on US tech companies.Last August, he described such measures as “designed to harm, or discriminate against, American Technology”.Trump has enjoyed a close relationship with the powerful US tech sector during his second term in office, promising fewer domestic regulations and government support for emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI).The president and his allies have also depicted content moderation rules in European countries as a form of censorship.The European Union (EU) finalised a deal with the US last month capping tariffs on most EU products at 15 percent. That agreement did not include details on digital service taxes.