WASHINGTON, June 27, 2026, 09:09 EDT
- Trump said he would slap 100% tariffs on countries that tax U.S. digital services companies.
- Six countries under a U.S. digital-tax probe sold $262.8 billion worth of goods to the U.S. in 2025.
- U.K. digital services tax brought in £808 million for 2024-25.
- EU officials said the taxes are for large companies no matter where they come from.
Trump’s warning of 100% tariffs on countries with digital taxes brings a $262.8 billion annual goods-import flow from six targeted nations into play. The U.S. digital-tax review already has those countries on its list, and the trade talks now have a much larger number on the table than just the digital-tax bills faced by U.S. tech firms.
France, Austria, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the UK exported $262.8 billion in goods to the U.S. in 2025 and $85.9 billion for the first four months of 2026, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The White House told the U.S. Trade Representative in 2025 to look at renewing Section 301 probes into digital services taxes in the same countries.
Italy shipped $74.4 billion in goods to the U.S. last year, topping the list of six, Census data show. France came next at $68.1 billion, with the U.K. at $64.8 billion. Spain, Austria and Turkey combined for $55.5 billion.
Trump said Friday that he would hit any country putting in place a digital services tax with an “immediate” 100% tariff on shipments to the U.S. He said such a tariff would override existing trade deals “whether implemented, signed or not.” Reuters
Investors are watching this, as the dispute ties a tax spat involving Apple NASDAQ:AAPL, Alphabet Inc. NASDAQ:GOOGL, Amazon.com NASDAQ:AMZN and Meta Platforms NASDAQ:META to tariffs on goods—tariffs that would first impact importers, then hit European exporters. Reuters reported last year that digital services taxes have often targeted big U.S. tech groups like Alphabet’s Google, Meta’s Facebook, Apple and Amazon.
The warning comes just days ahead of Trump’s July 4 deadline for the U.S. and EU to launch a tariff pact that would limit most EU exports to a 15% cap. Digital services taxes weren’t included in that deal.
France, Spain, and Italy charge a 3% digital services tax on major companies. The U.K. set its own 2% tax, but only on revenues from search, social, and online marketplace activity. That U.K. tax only hits groups posting more than £500 million in digital-services revenue globally and at least £25 million coming from U.K. users.
The Treasury said in a November review that the U.K. tax brought in £808 million for 2024-25. U.S. imports of U.K. goods hit $64.8 billion in 2025 and totaled $21.2 billion from January to April 2026, Census data show.
EU says its tax policy doesn’t target anyone. On Friday a Commission spokesperson said EU taxes are “non-discriminatory by design” and hit “all large companies, regardless of their origin.” The Commission said it would answer if there are unfair unilateral actions. Reuters
The USTR has tracked the issue for a while. Its digital-tax docket shows actions involving France, India, Italy, Turkey, Austria, Spain, and the U.K. There are also 2021 action notices, and records on terminations or ongoing monitoring.
The U.S. agreed in 2021 with Austria, France, Italy, Spain and the U.K. to drop extra tariffs as those countries worked on digital taxes during OECD talks. At the time, USTR noted Turkey and India were not part of the deal.
Trump hasn’t said if a 100% tariff would use a Section 301 case, a smaller product scope, or a sweeping tariff order for certain countries. AP said Friday it’s not clear how he’d implement the move or if he’d single out some nations before others.
