Trump is threatening 100% tariffs on any country with a digital services tax on U.S. tech companies

"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," Trump wrote on Truth Social, directing his warning at "Numerous European Countries" he said are discussing implementing such levies. He added that the tariffs would take effect without delay and would override any existing trade agreements.

The threat comes as the U.S. and E.U. are operating under a trade deal, finalized in May, that caps tariffs on most E.U. exports at 15%, according to The Associated Press. Digital services taxes were not covered by that agreement and have remained a point of contention between Washington and Brussels.

By design, digital services taxes tend to fall on the biggest and most entrenched technology platforms — among them Meta $META, Alphabet $GOOGL, and Amazon $AMZN, all of which are headquartered in the United States. More than a dozen countries have imposed such taxes, CNBC added.

Questions remain about what statutory basis, if any, would permit Trump to levy such penalties against specific European nations. In a prior ruling, the Supreme Court invalidated the administration's broad tariff regime — a package that had assigned country-specific rates to nearly every nation — finding that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act gave the White House no such sweeping unilateral authority. Trump responded the same day by invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to establish a worldwide 10% tariff, though that provision carries a hard ceiling: duties imposed under it expire after 150 days unless Congress votes to extend them.

Trump has repeatedly used tariff threats as leverage against foreign digital services taxes. Earlier this month, he warned France it would face 100% tariffs on wine and champagne unless Paris scrapped its levy on U.S. technology companies — a tax that charges Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Apple $AAPL, and similar large platforms 3% on revenues earned within French borders. Ottawa pulled back a similar levy of its own last year — abandoning the measure just before it was scheduled to take effect — after the Trump administration threatened to sever trade negotiations entirely.