The Canadian government, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, halted the collection of its Digital Services Tax (DST) and plans to rescind the legislation, just hours before it was set to begin. This decision came directly after a threat from U.S. President Donald Trump to terminate all trade discussions with Canada due to the tax. The DST, passed in 2024 under the Trudeau government, aimed to tax tech giants on Canadian revenue.
Opinion: The digital services tax was bad policy, but killing it now makes us look terribly weak
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TL;DR: Key points with love ❤️The Canadian government, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, halted the collection of its Digital Services Tax (DST) and plans to rescind the legislation, just hours before it was set to begin. This decision came directly after a threat from U.S. President Donald Trump to terminate all trade discussions with Canada due to the tax. The DST, passed in 2024 under the Trudeau government, aimed to tax tech giants on Canadian revenue.
Trending- 1 June 2024: The Digital Services Tax (DST) was passed under the Trudeau government.
- 2 August (2024): The U.S. launched dispute settlement consultations over the DST.
- 3 October (2024): Google started charging Canadian advertisers a 2.5-per-cent 'DST fee'.
- 4 Friday (June 27, 2025): Donald Trump posted on Truth Social threatening to terminate trade discussions.
- 5 Late Sunday night (June 29, 2025): The Canadian government announced the halt of DST collection and plans to rescind the act.
- 6 June 30 (2025): DST collection was set to begin.
- Canada appears weak and its domestic policy influenced by the U.S.
- The U.S. agreed to resume negotiations but without further concessions.
- Tech giants like Google had already passed on costs to Canadians.
- Meta blocked Canadian news access due to similar legislation (Bill C-18).
What: The Canadian government cancelled its Digital Services Tax (DST) legislation.
When: Late Sunday night (June 29, 2025), hours before collection was set to begin on June 30, 2025.
Where: Canada, influenced by the U.S.
Why: Directly resulted from U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to terminate all trade discussions with Canada if the tax proceeded.
How: The Canadian government announced the halt of collection and plans to introduce legislation to rescind the Digital Services Tax Act.