Trump says he will ‘probably put a big tariff on the UK’ if it doesn’t drop digital services tax | Donald Trump
Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on the UK if the digital services tax he imposed on US social media companies is not reduced.
The digital services tax, introduced in 2020, imposes a 2% tax on the revenues of many large US tech companies.
Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office on Thursday, the US president said: “We’re looking into this and we could cover that very easily by putting a huge tariff on the UK, so they’d better be careful.
“If they don’t reduce the duty, we’ll probably impose a huge tariff on the UK.”
The tax targets companies with more than £500 million ($673 million) in revenue from digital activities worldwide, with more than £25 million coming from users in the United Kingdom.
Trump argued that the laws, which have long been a source of tension in US-UK relations, target “the world’s leading companies.”
“England did it, a few others did it,” he said. “They think they’ll make easy money, so they’re all taking advantage of our country.”
Within the scope of the UK-US trade agreement reached in May 2025, the digital services tax remained unchanged, although it was a subject of discussion.
When asked how high the tariff would be, the president said it would be “more than they get” in taxes. “We will respond by putting something equal or greater than what they did,” he said.
The latest revelations add to wider tensions in US-UK relations, which worsened after Sir Keir Starmer rejected the UK’s involvement in the conflict in the Middle East.
Earlier this month, Trump suggested in an interview with Sky News that the terms of the UK-US trade deal brokered last year “could always be changed”.
Trump’s comments come months after similar threats by the United States to impose new tariffs and export controls on countries with digital taxes or regulations affecting American tech giants. Some European countries such as France, Italy and Spain have a digital services tax.
In an August 2025 post on Truth Social, Trump said he would “stand up to countries that attack our incredible American technology companies.”
“Digital taxes, digital services legislation, and digital market regulations are all designed to harm or discriminate against American technology,” he wrote.
“This must end,” he said, promising to “impose significant additional tariffs” on the offending country’s exports to the United States “unless these discriminatory acts are eliminated.”
Downing Street has been contacted for comment.
