Trump bullies Canada on behalf of Big Tech, workers continue to lose out
Public Citizen | 30 June 2025
Trump bullies Canada on behalf of Big Tech, workers continue to lose out
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On June 29, Canada announced that it would drop its 3 percent digital services tax on major technology companies like Apple, Amazon, and Google. The news comes days after President Trump announced he would be “terminating” all trade discussions with Canada because of its digital tax, and that he would announce new tariffs on Canada within the next seven days.
Research published by Public Citizen has shown how large corporations, and Big Tech companies in particular, have contributed huge sums of money to Trump’s inauguration fund. Trump is now providing a return on investment (to these companies) by weaponizing trade negotiations to extract unfair concessions from countries around the world.
Melinda St Louis, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch released the following statement:
“The Trump administration is carrying water for Big Tech companies by weaponizing tariff negotiations to ensure that countries are unable to regulate and tax American technology companies. Using sweeping trade threats to target Canada’s digital services taxes is just the latest example of the Trump administration forcing global deregulation to further enrich the world’s biggest tech corporations.
“Caving to Trump’s bullying on behalf of Big Tech is not a wise move for foreign governments, which is likely to spur the administration to make further demands. The trade agreement between the U.S. and U.K., which excludes mention of the U.K.’s digital services tax for now, shows that countries do have a choice to stand up to Trump’s unfair demands.
“President Trump’s actions aren’t going to restore American industry, revitalize the middle class, or stabilize our economy. Instead, he is using the threat of tariffs to push more corporate-dominated (and likely corrupt) deals that will harm consumers, workers, and the world.”
Background
Digital Services Taxes (DSTs) are taxes on the gross revenues, the total amount a business earns, derived from the provision of digital services to users in a specific jurisdiction. They are typically imposed when a country is not able to receive adequate income tax payments from digital companies operating in their jurisdiction.
Canada enacted a law in 2024, to apply DSTs to large technology companies. This followed the break-down of international negotiations and U.S withdrawal from an Global Tax Deal supported by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The U.S. has also initiated dispute resolution proceedings against Canada under the US-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement (USMCA) alleging that the tax violates “non discrimination” provisions of the agreement, despite the tax applying to all companies that meet the relevant revenue and related thresholds.
President Trump has made it clear, including in his April 2 “Liberation Day” speech when he announced the imposition of supposed “reciprocal tariffs”, that his administration would target digital economy regulations imposed by foreign countries including their privacy, data protection and anti-monopoly regulations. This has prompted several members of Congress, as well as digital rights and consumer groups to call out the U.S. administration for using trade talks to benefit his oligarch benefactors while weakening essential consumer and public interest protections in an increasingly dangerous digital ecosystem.
It has been reported that the U.S. and EU may be nearing an agreement to avoid Trump’s punitive tariffs that includes concessions from the EU to exclude U.S. tech companies from enforcement of some of its digital regulations. This too, has been opposed by consumer and digital rights groups from both sides of the Atlantic.
