00:00Canada is forging ahead with its Digital Services Tax, or DST, on major tech companies.
00:08A move that has ignited a furious response from President Donald Trump.
00:12In a recent Truth Social post, Trump denounced the tax as a direct and blatant attack on our country.
00:20Declaring his administration was terminating ALL discussions on trade with Canada effective immediately.
00:26Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's office offered a concise rebuttal, stating,
00:31The Canadian government will continue to engage in these complex negotiations with the United States in the best interests of Canadian workers and businesses.
00:40The first payment for the 3% DST is due on Monday.
00:45Covering digital services revenue collected from Canadian users retroactively to 2022.
00:50This amounts to an estimated $2 billion bill for giants like Amazon, Meta, and Google.
00:58Despite Canadian Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne Seed earlier suggestion that the tax could be part of broader trade discussions,
01:06The Business Council of Canada expressed grave concerns.
01:12They warned that a unilateral DST could undermine Canada's economic relationship with its most crucial trading partner, the United States.
01:20Goldie Heider, President and CEO of the Council, urged Canada to propose eliminating the DST in exchange for the removal of U.S. tariffs.
01:31To get trade negotiations back on track, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has also called for a pause on the tax,
01:38arguing it's an unfair tax that's putting millions of Canadian jobs at risk.
01:42Frank McKenna, former Canadian ambassador to the U.S., described Trump's declaration as an extraordinary action
01:50that reveals the unpredictable nature of U.S. policy under his leadership.
01:55Notably, the Canadian Finance Department confirmed that the DST will not affect the recent G7 agreement
02:02that removed the Section 899 revenge tax proposal from Trump's tax bill.
