The president’s remarks are likely an escalation against what he and his predecessor have seen as onerous tech rules in the European Union.
President Donald Trump on Monday threatened countries that have taxes and barriers on digital technology services with export tariffs and curbs on the supply of American technology and semiconductors.
In a Truth Social post, Trump alleged that those laws are “outrageous” and discriminate against U.S. tech companies while giving a free pass to the big tech companies from China.
“I put all Countries with Digital Taxes, Legislation, Rules, or Regulations, on notice that unless these discriminatory actions are removed, I, as President of the United States, will impose substantial additional Tariffs on that Country’s Exports to the U.S.A., and institute Export restrictions on our Highly Protected Technology and Chips,” he said.
Trump’s remarks are likely an escalation against what he, as well as former President Joe Biden, have seen as onerous tech rules in the European Union that have hit U.S. giants such as Meta Platforms, Alphabet’s Google and Amazon.com.
Several countries in the bloc, such as Austria, France, Italy, Spain, and Poland, have implemented a national digital tax, and these levies can be significant for U.S. tech companies because their services, for instance, Google search, are widely used.
The digital service taxes are reportedly a key issue in trade negotiations between the EU and the U.S., which have seen considerable back-and-forth in recent months.
Last week, the two sides issued a joint statement stating that they would work together to “address unjustified trade barriers” and “not impose customs duties on electronic transmissions.” The 27-member bloc also confirmed it wouldn’t adopt network usage fees.
“America, and American Technology Companies, are neither the ‘piggy bank’ nor the ‘doormat’ of the World any longer,” Trump said in his post.
So far this year, the Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 (QQQ), which tracks top U.S. tech companies as part of their presence in the Nasdaq 100, is up nearly 11%, higher than the 9% gains in SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), which tracks S&P 500 stocks. Retail sentiment toward QQQ, however, was ‘bearish’ as of the last reading on Stocktwits.
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