Trump Threatens UK with Tariffs Over Digital Services Tax on US Tech Giants

Gate News message, April 24 — President Donald Trump issued a direct warning to the UK on Thursday, threatening to impose tariffs on British exports unless the government scraps its digital services tax on American tech companies. "We can meet that very easily by just putting a big tariff on the UK, so they better be careful," Trump told journalists from the Oval Office. "If they don't drop the tax, we'll probably put a big tariff on the UK."

The UK's digital services tax, introduced in 2020, imposes a 2% charge on revenues from digital activities for firms with global digital revenues exceeding £500 million and UK-derived revenues over £25 million. Trump argued the tax unfairly targets "top companies in the world" and stated the proposed tariff would be "equal or greater than what they're doing" with the levy. The digital services tax remained unchanged under the UK-US trade agreement finalized in May 2025, despite being a point of ongoing contention.

These comments reflect escalating tensions in UK-US relations, which have further deteriorated following Prime Minister Keir Starmer's refusal to commit Britain to involvement in the Middle East conflict. Trump previously suggested the terms of the trade deal "can always be changed." Other European nations including France, Italy, and Spain also maintain digital services taxes; Trump vowed in August 2025 to impose "substantial additional tariffs" on countries implementing such "discriminatory" measures against American technology firms.