President Donald Trump announced the termination of trade talks with Canada, citing their decision to impose a digital services tax, and warned of new tariffs to be introduced within the next week.
“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 posted Friday on Truth Social.
Akayla Gardner for Bloomberg News:
The Canadian dollar dropped more than 0.5% almost immediately. Canada’s benchmark equity index fell, and the shares of companies that rely on trade across the border, including General Motors Co. and apparel maker Canada Goose Holdings Inc., also took a hit.
Canada is poised to proceed with implementing its new digital tax, with the first payments due Monday, the country’s finance department said earlier Friday. Business groups in the country have opposed the levy, arguing it would increase the cost of services and invite retaliation by the US.
A group of 21 US lawmakers wrote to Trump earlier this month asking him to push for the tax’s removal, estimating it will cost American companies $2 billion. Trump in his trade push has long railed against taxes and other non-tariff barriers, casting them as an impediment to US exporters.
The Canadian digital services tax, which is similar to one implemented by some other countries including the UK, is equal to 3% of the digital services revenue that a firm makes from Canadian users above C$20 million ($14.6 million) in a year. It would apply to companies including Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc.
MacDailyNews Take: Canada is now forced to rethink its program of theft from American companies.
Interns: Tap That Keg™! Prost, everyone! 🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻
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Canadian dollar up.
US dollar down.
And Canada already folded.
I’ll bet you think the “down dollar” is a negative US signal?
It’s like the old dementia wheel chair bound guy in the old folks home laying down the law with the staff.
It’s Not going to get very far.
Maybe we need to go up there and just liberate them from the oppression of the east provinces. It’ll be a rough few weeks, but everyone wins except power hungry authoritarians
Trust me……..we don’t need any help from our dear old friends to the south!!!! As well meaning as you might be! Elbows up fellow Canadians!!
Alberta wants to be liberated from the socialist leeches to the east.
You must live in the east.
How patriotic of you.
FYI, according to Statistics Canada using latest data from 2023, Alberta’s oil-fueled contributions to the GDP of Canada add up to a 15.4% share. Ontario contributes 38.2% and Quebec 19.8%.
But the population of Ontario and Quebec each are significantly larger than Alberta, you say? OK let’s look at GDP per capita. Alberta, despite high natural resource extraction and thin population, actually lags the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in GDP per person. Relatively speaking, those people work hard to make a living and a substantial number of Albertans sit by polluting oil wells and watch it pump high-sulfur, low-quality oil to ports to be shipped to refineries. Many would argue that those “socialist” fishermen in the Atlantic provinces, despite earning less, actually work a lot harder.
If you want to talk socialism … how many of your oil wells are on provincial and federal lands, and subsidized by taxpayers through shady deals that are carefully crafted so as not appear to be direct subsidies? Over $2.3 billion in 2019 of federal tax incentives for petro industry alone, not even counting the gifts the bought-and-paid for Alberta provincial government offers. https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/fossil-fuel-subsidies-expaliner-1.6371411
So those companies can make profits in Canada but shouldn’t have to pay taxes? I guess Musk and Zuckerberg don’t make enough $$$.
put on as many tariffs as you like
Canada doesn’t pay them, the US consumer pays that tax
Digital services should be taxed into oblivion. Then companies would have an incentive to release debugged software that just works as a one-time purchase.