Donald Trump’s threat to impose a 100% import tariff on any country that introduces a digital services tax has put the entire question of tech levies back at the centre of transatlantic trade, and the UK (which has had such a tax in place since April 2020) is directly in the crosshairs.
Writing on Truth Social on 26 June 2026, Trump warned that ‘any Country that imposes such a Tax will immediately be met with a 100% TARIFF on any and all Goods sent to the United States of America,’ declaring that the penalty would ‘supersede’ existing bilateral trade agreements. The target, he wrote, was ‘Numerous European countries’ moving toward ‘imminent implementation’ of new digital levies.
The timing is awkward, to put it mildly. Reuters reports that European Union member states had already met Trump’s July 4 deadline to cut tariffs on US goods, doing so on 25 June 2026, the day before this new threat landed. According to Euronews, that deal caps most tariffs on EU exports at 15%, but digital taxes were left entirely outside the agreement’s scope.
What the Digital Services Tax Threat Means for Britain
Britain’s position is particularly uncomfortable. The UK’s Digital Services Tax, levied on gross UK-generated revenues rather than profits, applies to large businesses running social media platforms, search engines, and online marketplaces. Qualifying companies must have global digital revenues exceeding £500 million and UK revenues above £25 million. The rate sits at 2%, and it catches Apple, Google, Meta, and Amazon squarely.
Crucially, the UK’s digital services tax has been growing fast. According to the UK Government’s own Digital Services Tax Review, receipts came in at £808 million in 2024–25, up from £678 million in 2023–24 and £576 million in 2022–23. The trajectory continued upward: CCIA, citing HMRC’s annual receipts publication, puts the 2025–26 yield at £944 million (approximately $1.3 billion), a 17% increase on the prior year. To put that in context, CCIA notes it was nearly 10% more than the roughly $866 million raised by France’s digital services tax in 2024.
That kind of revenue gives the Treasury every reason to want to keep the tax. But it also makes the UK a more conspicuous target. Trump was already explicit about this in April, warning that Britain faced ‘a big tariff’ for ‘targeting’ major US companies. ‘They think they’re going to make an easy buck,’ he said at the time.
This is not a new grievance. The US government determined as far back as January 2021 that the UK’s digital services tax was, according to CCIA, ‘unreasonable or discriminatory and as burdening or restricting US commerce’, making it formally actionable under Section 301 of the US Trade Act. That legal finding never translated into penalties at the time. Whether Trump treats it as a ready-made justification now is a different matter.
A Pattern of Escalating Digital Tax Threats
This week’s Truth Social post is consistent with a campaign of escalating rhetoric. CBS News reports that Trump made a near-identical threat in an August 2025 Truth Social post, arguing that digital taxes and regulations were designed to weaken US companies. Earlier this month, according to the New York Times, he threatened 100% tariffs specifically on French wines over France’s digital levy, a threat that had not been acted upon as of 26 June 2026.
France, Italy, and Spain each impose a 3% digital services tax on large companies operating in their jurisdictions. Several other EU nations have implemented or are considering similar measures. Amazon has already cited such taxes as the reason it raised fees on sellers earlier this year.
The precise legal exposure for the UK depends on whether Trump’s post applies only to countries announcing new digital levies or extends retroactively to existing ones. London has been quiet on the question. The Department for Business and Trade and the Treasury had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.
The UK spent much of early 2025 exploring whether to modify the digital services tax to protect its trade relationship with Washington. If the next few weeks do not produce a bilateral understanding, that debate is about to get considerably more urgent. A Treasury that has grown accustomed to £900 million-plus a year from Silicon Valley will not surrender the revenue easily. Trump, equally, has shown no sign of backing down until he has to.
