By MICHELLE L. PRICE, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he’s immediately suspending trade talks with Canada over its plans to continue with its tax on technology firms, which he called “a direct and blatant attack on our country.”
Trump, in a post on his social media network on Friday, said that Canada had just informed the U.S. that it was sticking to its plan to impose the tax set to take effect Monday.
“Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately. We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period,” Trump said in his post.
Canada’s digital services tax requires Canadian and foreign businesses that engage with online users in Canada.
The digital services tax will hit companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, Uber and Airbnb with a 3% levy on revenue from Canadian users. It will apply retroactively, leaving U.S. companies with a $2 billion US bill due at the end of the month.
Canada and the U.S. have been discussing easing a series of steep tariffs Trump imposed on goods from America’s neighbor.
The Republican president earlier told reporters that the U.S. was soon preparing to send letters to different countries, informing them of the new tariff rate his administration would impose on them.
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