Donald Trump has threatened to “put a big tariff” on the UK if it does not drop its digital services tax on US social media firms.
“We’ve been looking at it and we can meet that very easily by just putting a big tariff on the UK, so they better be careful, the US president told the Oval Office on Thursday.
“If they don’t drop the tax, we’ll probably put a big tariff on the UK.”
The digital services tax, introduced in 2020, imposes a 2% levy on companies whose worldwide revenues from digital activities exceed £500m, with more than £25m of the revenues from UK users.
Trump argued the laws, which have long been a source of tension in US-UK relations, targeted “top companies in the world”.
“The UK did it, a couple of other people did it,” he said.
“They think they’re going to make an easy buck, that’s why they’ve all taken advantage of our country.”
His comments come ahead of a visit by King Charles, next week.
Trump said he believes the monarch could help repair the Washington’s relationship with the British, which has become strained in recent months.
The digital services tax went unchanged under the UK–US trade deal agreed in May 2025, despite being a point of discussion.
The trade deal granted access for the British tech sector to the lucrative American market.
Asked how high the tariff would be, the president said it would be “more than what they’re getting” from the levy.
“What we’ll do is we’ll reciprocate by putting something on that’s equal or greater than what they’re doing,” he said.
It comes months after similar US threats to impose new tariffs and export controls on countries with digital taxes or regulations affecting American tech giants.
A number of European countries, like France, Italy and Spain, have a digital services tax.
In a post on Truth Social from August 2025, Trump said he would “stand up to countries that attack our incredible American Tech Companies”.
“Digital Taxes, Digital Services Legislation, and Digital Markets Regulations are all designed to harm, or discriminate against, American Technology,” he wrote.
“This must end,” he said and vowed that “unless these discriminatory actions are removed”, he would “impose substantial additional tariffs” on the offending nation’s exports to the US.
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