Trump vows retaliation against countries with digital rules targeting US tech

President Donald Trump has vowed to impose new tariffs and export curbs on countries with digital taxes or regulations that affect American technology companies.

Mr Trump did not mention specific places, but his comments were taken as a threat against the European Union’s digital rules to rein in companies like Google, Apple, and Meta.

In a post on Truth Social late on Monday, Mr Trump said he would “stand up to countries that attack our incredible American Tech Companies”.

“Digital Taxes, Digital Services Legislation, and Digital Markets Regulations are all designed to harm, or discriminate against, American Technology,” he wrote.

Cracked down

The 27-nation EU has cracked down on Big Tech companies with sweeping rules. The bloc’s Digital Services Act aims to clean up social media and online platforms and its Digital Markets Act is designed to prevent digital monopolies, under threat of hefty fines for breaches.

Some individual European Union countries like France, Italy and Spain have a digital services tax, as does the UK.

The Trump administration has long held the EU’s tech regulations in contempt and tech companies have battled against them.

Mr Trump also complained that big Chinese tech companies get “a complete pass” from the rules.

“This must end,” he said and vowed that “unless these discriminatory actions are removed”, he would “impose substantial additional tariffs” on the offending nation’s exports to the US and also “institute export restrictions on our highly protected technology and chips.”

Pushed back

The EU’s executive Commission pushed back.

“It is the sovereign rights of the EU and its member states to regulate economic activities on our territory, which are consistent with our democratic values,” Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said at a regular press briefing.

Mr Trump’s latest salvo comes a week after Washington and Brussels released a joint statement on their trade deal that included a pledge to “address unjustified digital trade barriers”.

In June, Mr Trump threatened to suspend trade talks with Canada over Ottawa’s plan to impose a digital services tax on technology companies, forcing prime minister Mark Carney to abandon the tax.