Tax US tech companies

EU could tax US tech companies if Trump tariff talks fail, commission chief says

From CNN's Christian Edwards

The European Union is prepared to impose taxes on US tech giants if talks with President Donald Trump fail to bring down tariffs on European goods, the European Commission president told the Financial Times.

“We are developing retaliatory measures,” Ursula von der Leyen said, which potentially includes taxing the digital advertising revenues of companies like Meta, Google and Facebook. “There’s a wide range of countermeasures… in case the negotiations are not satisfactory.”

The EU said yesterday it would pause its retaliatory tariffs on the US for 90 days, a day after Trump also announced a 90-day pause on his “reciprocal” tariffs.

The bloc of 27 countries had been hit by three sets of US tariffs: 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum; 25% levies on cars and a 20% “reciprocal” tariff on all other goods.

Despite pausing the “reciprocal” tariff, Trump is still imposing a 10% tariff on dozens of trading partners, including the EU.

While the US tariffs have targeted foreign goods, the EU is considering using a trade “bazooka” to hit American service companies – and tech giants in particular.

“An example is you could put a levy on the advertising revenues of digital services,” von der Leyen said.

In a statement Thursday, von der Leyen said the EU was “committed to constructive negotiations” with the US, but that its “countermeasures will kick in” if talks fail.

Maros Sefcovic, the bloc’s trade commissioner, will travel to Washington on Sunday to “try and sign deals,” a spokesperson said earlier.