Trump Threatens 100 Percent Tariff on Countries With Digital Services Taxes

President Donald Trump threatened on Friday to impose a 100 percent tariff on any country that levies a digital services tax on U.S. companies, setting up a new dispute with the European Union weeks before his July 4 deadline to finalize a trade deal. In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote 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,” CBS News and The Guardian reported. He said the duty would supersede existing trade agreements with the country.

Digital services taxes apply to large companies that earn revenue in a country but have no physical presence there. Trump said “numerous European countries” had been discussing such taxes and that “some of these countries are close to actually doing this,” the Guardian reported. The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan group, says roughly half of European members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development have proposed, announced or implemented one, and that the taxes mostly affect U.S. companies, according to CBS. France, Spain and Italy impose a 3 percent tax on large firms, the Guardian reported, and Britain has a 2 percent levy on social media platforms, large search engines and online marketplaces; the UK Treasury said it raised more than 800 million pounds in 2024-25.

The European Commission pushed back. A spokesperson, Olof Gill, said the bloc “reserved the right to defend itself” and that “unilateral measures targeting such legitimate policies are unjustified. If pursued, the EU will respond swiftly and decisively to defend its rights and regulatory autonomy,” the Guardian reported. Gill said the taxes do not target companies from any one country and apply to “all large companies, regardless of their origin.”

The threat comes as the administration and Brussels work through a deal. In May the EU signed an agreement with the United States that caps most tariffs on EU exports at 15 percent, and Trump has set a July 4 deadline for the two sides to finalize it, CBS and the Guardian reported. Digital taxes were not part of the agreement and have remained a sticking point, according to CBS. The Guardian said a follow-through on the threat could escalate into a broader trade conflict if the 27-nation bloc retaliated.

The idea has a history. The U.S. Trade Representative opened investigations in 2020 into nine EU countries that had adopted or were considering digital taxes, and Trump threatened tariffs in August 2025, writing that America is “neither the ‘piggy bank’ nor the ‘doormat’ of the World any longer,” CBS reported. In April he said Britain could face a “big tariff” over the matter, the Guardian reported. The Guardian noted the taxes apply to U.S. technology companies such as Apple, Google and Amazon.