On 26/6, US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social: "Many European nations are discussing the implementation of digital services taxes on American companies. Some are very close to implementation."

He declared that "any country that applies such a tax will immediately face a 100% tariff on all goods exported to the US." The new tariffs would replace any trade agreement with the US, "regardless of whether it has been implemented or signed."

This includes the agreement reached last year between the US and the European Union (EU). That deal set a cap of 15% on US import tariffs for European goods. In return, EU countries reduced import tariffs on US industrial goods to 0%.

US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House on 22/6/2026. *Photo: AP*

Trump has repeatedly stated his intention to retaliate against countries imposing digital services taxes, arguing that these taxes unfairly target US tech giants. In June last year, he ended trade negotiations with Canada after that country planned to implement a similar tax. Subsequently, Ottawa canceled the tax just before its scheduled effective date.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) also previously threatened retaliation against France, the UK, Austria, Spain, and several other European countries if they implemented digital services taxes.

Digital services taxes are typically designed to apply to tech giants such as Meta, Alphabet, and Amazon, all of which are US companies. More than 10 countries worldwide have implemented this tax. However, in his 26/6 post, Trump only mentioned "many European nations" that he stated were considering imposing the tax.

Before meeting Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit last week, French President Emmanuel Macron declared he would not yield to US pressure and would not cancel the digital services tax. Taxable services include e-commerce platforms and online advertising activities.

Before departing for the summit in France, Trump warned that the US "would have no other choice" but to impose a 100% tariff on French wine if Paris did not drop its digital services tax. Since 2019, France has applied a 3% tax on digital services generated domestically. This decree targets companies with global revenue exceeding 750 million euro (854 million USD), including at least 25 million euro generated from the French market. Last year, the country's lawmakers even proposed doubling the tax rate to 6%.

It is currently unclear what law Trump would invoke to immediately impose such high tariffs on individual countries. In February, the US Supreme Court rejected tariffs Trump imposed based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The justices ruled that this act did not permit the Trump administration to unilaterally impose tariffs globally.

Ha Thu (according to Reuters, CNBC)