The United States will restart trade negotiations with Canada immediately, after Canada scrapped its digital services tax targeting U.S. technology firms, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Monday.
“Absolutely,” Hassett said on Fox News when asked about the talks restarting. U.S. President Donald Trump had asked the Canadians to take the tax off at the G7 meeting in Canada, he said.
“It’s something that they’ve studied, now they’ve agreed to, and for sure, that means that we can get back to the negotiations.”
Trump originally said Friday he was ending all U.S. trade discussions with Canada because of the digital services tax, which would have seen U.S. companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, Uber and Airbnb pay three per cent on revenues from Canadian users.
The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed to CBC News that Prime Minister Mark Carney and Trump spoke on the phone sometime between Friday and Sunday night, when Canada rescinded the tax.
“President Trump has once again leveraged the power of the American economy, the best and biggest in the world, to deliver a victory for American industries and workers,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement to CBC News on Monday.
Thank you Canada for removing your Digital Services Tax which was intended to stifle American innovation and would have been a deal breaker for any trade deal with America. https://t.co/b944wQ4cyn
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick shared a statement on social media on Monday morning praising Canada’s decision to scrap the tax.
“Thank you Canada for removing your Digital Services Tax, which was intended to stifle American innovation and would have been a deal breaker for any trade deal with America,” he wrote on X.
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