Trump says terminating trade talks with Canada over tax on tech firms

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00:00Canada's digital services tax on foreign tech giants has sparked a fierce US backlash,

00:06with Donald Trump deciding to halt all trade talks with Ottawa.

00:10In a post on Truth Social, the US president called Canada's decision a direct and blatant

00:16attack on the US, accusing it of copying the European country's actions and warning of

00:22a new tariff response.

00:24Based on this egregious tax, we are hereby terminating all discussions on trade with Canada, effective

00:31immediately.

00:32We will let Canada know the tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United

00:38States of America within the next seven-day period.

00:43Canada's digital services tax, which is set to take effect on Monday, is a new levy expected

00:48to cost the largest American tech giants billions of dollars.

00:53Companies like Amazon, Google, Uber and Airbnb offering digital services and earning over

00:59$20 million in revenue from Canadian sources will be taxed 3% on the money they make from

01:06Canadian users and customers.

01:08The decision comes as Canada and the US would deepen negotiation to ease Trump's 25% tariffs

01:15on Canadian goods, which within months had resulted in major economic dislocations, job losses

01:22and a drop in southbound exports.

01:25But the two leaders who met at the G7 in Alberta last week agreed to solve the trade dispute within

01:3030 days.

01:32The Canadian Prime Minister spoke to reporters assuring that despite Trump's recent decision,

01:37Canada would not back down.

01:39We will continue to conduct these complex negotiations in the best interests of Canadians.

01:44Canada remains the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminium and uranium to the US,

01:50with 80% of its exports going to the States.

01:54The US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant says he would consider imposing a retroactive digital

02:00tax of US$2 billion on Canada.

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