US announces delayed tariffs on six countries that tax digital goods

The U.S. has introduced new suspended tariffs against six countries that have target tech giants by implementing digital services taxes, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative said.

Austria, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the U.K. will be subject to the tariffs. They're set at 25% on about $2 billion worth of goods, though they won't take effect for 180 days while the U.S. continues to negotiate on a proposed global tax regime.

"The United States remains committed to reaching a consensus on international tax issues through the OECD and G20 processes. Today's actions provide time for those negotiations to continue to make progress while maintaining the option of imposing tariffs under Section 301 if warranted in the future," U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement Wednesday

The U.S. government in April signaled plans to enact retaliatory tariffs on countries that tax digital goods from American companies, including the Apple App Store.

The six countries included in the USTR's list charge anywhere from a 2% to 5% tax on digital services. Although the specifics vary by country, the taxes cover areas such as social media, digital marketplaces, advertising, and search engines.

Foreign countries have long complained that American tech giants like Apple, Google, and Facebook should pay more in taxes. The U.S. response reflects its opposition to what it sees are discriminatory policies targeting successful companies.

The delayed tariffs announced Wednesday will affect a number of different consumer products, including cosmetic items, clothing, video game consoles, carpets, and shrimp, among other imports.

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11 Comments

sflocal 6135 comments · 16 Years

About 3 years ago

Good. If they're going to single out American companies for doing a better job than they're doing, then us doing exactly the same thing to them is fair and just.

avon b7 8018 comments · 20 Years

sflocal said:

Good. If they're going to single out American companies for doing a better job than they're doing, then us doing exactly the same thing to them is fair and just.

No one is singling out anyone. The US can do whatever it wants on tariffs in line with the rules but sovereign nations can obviously do the same.

mknelson 1147 comments · 9 Years

sflocal said:

Good. If they're going to single out American companies for doing a better job than they're doing, then us doing exactly the same thing to them is fair and just.

Doing better at… avoiding paying local taxes by setting up the regional office in a tax haven?

YOU pay the duties, not the Europeans. They may lose a bit of business.

In the long run the proposed global tax regime seems like a better solution all around. Level the playing field and reduce the race to the bottom.

Wgkrueger 352 comments · 8 Years

One wonders why EU based corporations aren’t dominant in the EU.

dewme 5741 comments · 10 Years

Wgkrueger said:

One wonders why EU based corporations aren’t dominant in the EU.

Only if one does not look beyond the narrow scope of businesses and markets mentioned in this article. If one expands one’s observations to include automotive, heavy machinery, industrial automation, industrial robotics, power generation, packaging machinery, medical devices, mining equipment, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, etc., you’ll see that EU corporations do quite well on their home turf.

I’m with MKnelson on this as far as having widely scoped if not global level mechanisms to work through these issues instead of the Hunger Games approaches that currently prevail.