President Donald Trump announced Friday that the United States is cutting off trade negotiations with Canada after Ottawa moved to impose a digital services tax targeting major American tech companies.
In a post on Truth Social issued after a White House press briefing, Trump blasted Canada as “a very difficult country to TRADE with,” recalling the sky-high dairy tariffs U.S. farmers have faced for years. “Now they are putting a Digital Services Tax on our American Technology Companies, which is a direct and blatant attack on our Country,” he wrote.
Trump said Canada was “obviously copying the European Union,” which has floated similar levies. “Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately,” the president declared. He promised to announce retaliatory tariffs within seven days.
The move follows a series of tit-for-tat tariffs earlier this year, when Trump first slapped levies on Canadian goods and Ottawa responded in kind. Canada remains the largest foreign purchaser of U.S. exports, while the United States is Canada’s top trading partner.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office has not commented on Trump’s decision.
The announcement capped a week in which Trump celebrated two major 6-3 Supreme Court decisions: one limiting nationwide injunctions that had stalled his birthright-citizenship order, and another affirming parents’ rights to opt their children out of classroom LGBT content.
During his Friday briefing, Trump framed the trade standoff with Canada as part of a broader effort to defend American workers and technology firms from what he called “unfair, copycat taxes” abroad.