The Liberal government has spent years touting its efforts to make tech giants pay. Now, those pieces of legislation could be a target of the Trump administration B次元官网网址� particularly the digital services tax that requires large tech companies to make a hefty retroactive payment in June.

The heads of the biggest U.S. tech companies attended Donald TrumpB次元官网网址檚 inauguration Monday. They included Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, MetaB次元官网网址檚 Mark Zuckerberg, AppleB次元官网网址檚 Tim Cook and GoogleB次元官网网址檚 Sundar Pichai, as well as Tesla CEO and vocal Trump supporter Elon Musk.

Meredith Lilly, a professor at Carleton UniversityB次元官网网址檚 Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, noted that Canada is a relatively small market for big U.S. tech companies.

B次元官网网址淣evertheless, they are close with the Trump administration, and so I would anticipate that they have the presidentB次元官网网址檚 ear to some extent,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淪o I do think that we should expect them to want some kind of action with Canada, in particular on the digital services tax.B次元官网网址�

The tax applies to companies that operate online marketplaces, online advertising services and social media platforms, and those that earn revenue from some sales of user data. It imposes a three-per-cent levy on revenue that foreign tech giants generate from Canadian users.

ItB次元官网网址檚 retroactive to 2022 and covers companies such as Amazon, Google, Facebook, Uber and Airbnb. Companies are required to file a return by June 30. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has estimated the tax will bring in $7.2 billion over five years.

Under former U.S. president Joe Biden, the United States was already pushing back on the tax. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office pulling the U.S. out of an international effort to establish digital tax rules.

The executive order directs the U.S. treasury secretary to investigate countries with tax rules that are B次元官网网址渆xtraterritorial or disproportionately affect American companies.B次元官网网址�

Lilly said the wording of the executive order suggests the U.S. will go after all countries that have implemented similar taxes, including France and the U.K. She said the most direct way for the United States to raise concerns would be through the Canada-United States-Mexico agreement.

Lilly noted the executive order directs the treasury secretary to report to the president within 60 days, which would be in mid-March.

B次元官网网址淚 would expect any time thereafter for discussions with any country that has a digital services tax in place to accelerate quickly,B次元官网网址� she said.

University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist, who specializes in e-commerce, has said the executive order makes the Canadian digital services tax B次元官网网址渁n obvious target.B次元官网网址�

He said in an online post Tuesday that B次元官网网址済iven the efforts of the major tech companies to curry favour with the new U.S. administration, expect the elimination of the tax to emerge as a key U.S. demand.B次元官网网址�

The digital services tax may not be the only piece of Canadian online regulation in the crosshairs.

B次元官网网址淚 do think that the Online Streaming Act will come to their attention, in part because (there are) very influential tech firms now closely linked to the president, and none of them like CanadaB次元官网网址檚 Online Streaming Act,B次元官网网址� Lilly said.

The bill updated broadcasting laws to capture online platforms. In recent days, groups representing U.S. businesses and big tech companies warned the CRTC its efforts to implement that legislation B次元官网网址� particularly the requirement that big foreign streaming companies contribute money toward the creation of Canadian content B次元官网网址� could worsen the trade conflict with the United States.

B次元官网网址淣ow is not the time for Canada to invite retaliation on trade issues from the incoming administration,B次元官网网址� the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told the broadcast regulator in a document filed as part of a CRTC proceeding on a new definition of Canadian content.

The Motion Picture AssociationB次元官网网址擟anada, which represents such big streaming companies as Netflix, Disney and Amazon, also recently launched an ad campaign against the CRTCB次元官网网址檚 efforts, warning about a B次元官网网址渘ew tax that could drive prices up.B次元官网网址�

Lilly said the U.S. could tackle that issue as part of the CUSMA review.

Geist said another target could be CanadaB次元官网网址檚 Online B次元官网网址 Act, which compels tech companies to enter into agreements with news publishers. Google, which is so far the only company to be captured under the legislation, has paid out $100 million to a journalism organization designed to disperse the funds.

Geist, who has been a critic of all three bills, said in an email that the U.S. could include them all in the overall demands it makes related to TrumpB次元官网网址檚 threat to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canada, B次元官网网址渋n the hope of getting some concessions from the Canadian government.B次元官网网址�

It could also use B次元官网网址渢he dispute resolution under CUSMA and the executive order B次元官网网址� to raise concerns and encourage Canada to delay or dropB次元官网网址� the digital services tax. He said the U.S. could also use the reopening of the CUSMA negotiations to put the online streaming and news bills B次元官网网址渙n the table.B次元官网网址�