Latest news with #USTechCompanies
National Post
12 hours ago
- Business
- National Post
Canada won't pause digital services tax despite pressure from U.S., finance minister says
OTTAWA — Canada won't put a hold on the digital services tax on big tech companies set to take effect on June 30, the finance minister said Thursday. Article content Article content Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said Thursday the legislation was passed by Parliament and Canada is 'going ahead' with the tax. Article content Article content 'The (digital services tax) is in force and it's going to be applied,' he told reporters before a cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill. Article content Article content It will apply retroactively, leaving U.S. companies with a $2 billion US bill due at the end of the month. A June 11 letter signed by 21 members of Congress said U.S. companies will pay 90 per cent of the revenue Canada will collect from the tax. Article content Canadian and U.S. business groups, organizations representing U.S. tech giants and American members of Congress have all signed letters in recent weeks calling for the tax to be eliminated or paused. Article content It's set to take effect just weeks before a deadline Canada and the U.S. have set for coming up with a new trade deal, following months of trade conflict between the two countries. Article content Rick Tachuk, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Canada, said the plan to go ahead with the tax 'undercuts those talks and risks derailing the agreement.' Article content Article content 'A retroactive tax like the DST, weeks before a new deal is supposed to be done, isn't a bargaining chip. It would likely be viewed as a provocation,' he said in an emailed statement. Article content Article content The Canadian Chamber of Commerce and other organizations have warned retaliatory measures in a U.S. spending and tax bill could hit Canadians' pension funds and investments. Article content Champagne said Canada isn't the only country that could be affected by those retaliatory measures. Article content David Pierce, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce's vice-president of government relations, said in an earlier interview his organization fears Canada could 'aggravate an already very tricky trade discussion with the Americans' if it goes ahead with the tax and the retroactive payment requirement. Article content Matthew Holmes, the chamber's executive vice-president and chief of public policy, said in a statement that a Liberal government announcement on counter-tariffs to protect the steel and aluminum industries Thursday was 'geared toward the 30-day deadline, so we see no reason why DST's timeline shouldn't be as well.'
Khaleej Times
28-05-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
US to issue visa bans for foreign nationals who 'censor' Americans: Rubio
The United States will impose visa bans on foreign nationals it deems to be censoring Americans, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday, unveiling a new policy Rubio suggested could target officials regulating U.S. tech companies. Rubio said in a statement that a new visa restriction policy would apply to foreign nationals responsible for censorship of protected expression in the United States and said it was unacceptable for foreign officials to issue or threaten arrest warrants for social media posts made on US soil. "It is similarly unacceptable for foreign officials to demand that American tech platforms adopt global content moderation policies or engage in censorship activity that reaches beyond their authority and into the United States," Rubio said. Rubio's statement did not name specific countries or individuals that would be targeted, but noted that some foreign officials have taken "flagrant censorship actions against U.S. tech companies and U.S. citizens and residents when they have no authority to do so."
