‘Difficult country to trade’: Donald Trump calls off trade talks with Canada, slams digital services tax

US President Donald Trump (left) and Canadian PM Mark Carney (AP)

US President Donald Trump got here down exhausting on Canada over its resolution to impose a Digital Services Tax (DST) on American know-how corporations, calling it a “direct and blatant attack” on the United States. In a put up on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump introduced the quick suspension of all trade discussions with Canada on Friday.Citing what he known as extreme tariffs on American agricultural exports, Trump claimed that Canada has lengthy been a “very difficult country to trade with.”“For years, they have imposed tariffs on dairy products that have cost our farmers up to 400%,” Trump wrote.He additional accused Canada of following the European Union, which has additionally carried out comparable digital taxation insurance policies which might be at present below dialogue with the US authorities. “They are obviously copying the European Union, which has done the same thing,” he stated.In a sharply worded assertion, Trump declared that the US would quickly impose tariffs on Canadian items. “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,” the put up warned.Canada’s digital services tax, first proposed years in the past, is aimed toward guaranteeing that giant multinational tech corporations, lots of that are US based mostly, pay taxes on revenues generated from Canadian customers. The coverage has drawn criticism from US lawmakers and trade officers who argue it disproportionately targets American corporations like Google, Amazon, and Meta.While the Trump administration has been in talks with Ottawa over trade, this assertion marks a transparent break, signalling a return to his combative “America first” stance.There was no quick response from Canadian officers, however trade specialists warn that the sudden halt in dialogue may escalate right into a wider financial dispute, probably affecting billions in cross-border commerce.