Trump threatens 100% tariff over European digital services taxes

By Brett Rowland
The Center Square

President Donald Trump threatened Friday to impose a 100% tariff on any country that implements a digital services tax on U.S. technology companies, a move that could add to what analysts estimate is already a $700-per-household burden from existing tariffs.

Existing tariffs cost the average U.S. household $700 in 2026, according to the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit tax policy research organization, citing a figure that does not include any new tariffs on countries with digital services taxes.

At least nine European countries, including France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, have implemented digital services taxes, which the Tax Foundation describes as targeting large American technology companies, according to a tracker the organization updated through May 2026.

Trump issued the warning Friday in a post on Truth Social, saying the tariff would “immediately” take effect and would supersede any existing or pending trade deals with the affected country.

Belgium is expected to implement a digital services tax by Jan. 1, 2027, and Germany considered but did not adopt a 10% digital advertising tax in June 2025, according to the Tax Foundation tracker.

Trump set a July 4 deadline for the European Union to implement the broader trade agreement or face “much higher” tariffs, he said in a May 7 Truth Social post. The EU completed that process Thursday when the EU Council gave final approval to implementing legislation. The agreement, which caps tariffs on most EU exports at 15%, does not address digital services taxes.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative launched Section 301 investigations into 10 countries and the EU over digital services taxes in June 2020, during Trump’s first term, according to Federal Register records. Retaliatory tariff actions were terminated in late 2021 after the targeted countries joined an Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) agreement on digital taxation, a deal that has since stalled without full implementation.

Canada rescinded its digital services tax hours before it was set to take effect in June 2025 after Trump threatened to terminate all trade talks with the country, according to a statement from Canada’s Department of Finance.