Trump pressures UK to drop Digital Services Tax

Once again, Trump is threatening the UK with tariffs, this time claiming that our Digital Services Tax unfairly targets American companies. This comes despite moves by Labour to appease US tech giants by easing competition enforcement.

While talking to reporters at the White House yesterday, Trump said:

We don’t like it when they threaten our American companies, because you are talking about our great American companies.

According to Tax Justice UK, the DST is a 2% levy on revenues from large digital platforms, including search engines, social media, and online marketplaces, and is projected to generate £4.4bn-£5.2bn between 2024 and 2029.

Trump’s threat is the latest push by American tech giants to reduce the UK’s Digital Services Tax collections.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association, whose members are American companies like Amazon, Meta, Google, Airbnb, Uber, Apple, among others, also called the UK’s DST a “distortive regime” and said “countermeasures” were inevitable.

UK digital service tax (DST) receipts hit £944M, up 17% year over year and now the largest globally, deepening concerns over a tax the U.S. deems discriminatory. As others step back from DSTs, the UK is letting the burden grow. Without a clear phaseout plan, renewed Section 301… pic.twitter.com/oWMTcL7iD8

— Computer & Communications Industry Association (@ccianet) April 23, 2026

CCIA also seemingly boasted about US trade bullying. It said that other countries “abandoned” Digital Services Tax because of US pressure.

Such opposition has contributed to enacted and proposed DSTs in Canada, Pakistan, India, and New Zealand being abandoned.

The fact that CCIA is claiming that £944m in tax revenue to the UK is somehow an unreasonable burden on firms with trillions in market cap, and is truly reflective of the US hubris.

Labour’s US push is damaging the UK

Referencing the Trump tariff threat, Diane Abbott said on Friday the US is no longer a reliable ally. She argued Britain needs a major foreign policy reorientation, noting that carrying on is too costly unless they drop the Digital Services Tax.

When a reliable ally turns out to be neither, it is time for a major reorientation of British foreign policy.
Carrying on in the same way is too costly.

Trump says he will probably put a big tariff on the UK if it doesn’t drop the digital services taxhttps://t.co/ziY0LHYZ7o

— Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) April 24, 2026

Former CMA chair Marcus Bokkerink wrote in the Times this month that the Labour government prefers US tech giants over homegrown competition, warning that the government appears committed to “entrenching the dominance of a small number of tech giants.”

He wrote:

Under new leadership and government direction, enforcement involving the so-called Big Tech firms has slowed significantly. The Google and Apple investigations concluded without substantive remedies. The planned investigation into Amazon and Microsoft cloud services was cancelled. The result has been to reinforce the status quo rather than inject fresh competitive dynamism.

Sharing Bokkerink’s comments, Cage International called Mandelson, Blair, and Gove traitors.

Atlanticists / Neocons have enabled USA/ Israeli hegemony via Big Business takeover since Reagan era.
Mandelson, Blair & Gove are the leading UK traitors.

“This is the domestic side of the Mandelson scandal: Atlanticist elite deal-making that puts US 🇺🇸 capital first.” https://t.co/0SjoGnF67m

— CAGE International (@CAGEintl) April 20, 2026

Disgraced Peter Mandelson appeared to be on the US’s side on Digital Services Tax. The FT reported in September 2025 that the former UK ambassador has argued Britain must embrace US-style tech regulation and not let technologies be “stifled with excessive regulation.”

Labour’s America-First policy has brought nothing but more demands. The bullying hasn’t stopped.

Featured image via the Canary