US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on the UK ought to it refuse to abolish its digital companies tax on American social media giants.
The digital companies tax, launched in 2020, locations a 2% levy on the revenues of a number of main US tech corporations. Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office on Thursday, Mr Trump stated: “We’ve been looking at it and we can meet that very easily by just putting a big tariff on the UK, so they better be careful.
“If they do not drop the tax, we’ll in all probability put a giant tariff on the UK.”
The tax applies to companies whose global revenues from digital activities surpass £500 million, with over £25 million of those revenues derived from UK users. Mr Trump claimed the laws, which have long been a source of tension in UK-US relations, targeted “high corporations on the planet”.
He said: “The UK did it, a few different individuals did it. They assume they are going to make a simple buck, that is why they’ve all taken benefit of our nation.”
The digital services tax remained unchanged under the UK–US trade deal agreed in May 2025, despite being a point of discussion. When asked how substantial the tariff would be, the president said it would be “greater than what they’re getting” from the levy. “What we’ll do is we’ll reciprocate by placing one thing on that is equal or better than what they’re doing,” he said. The remarks add to the growing strain on UK-US relations, which have deteriorated further following Sir Keir Starmer’s refusal to commit Britain to involvement in the Middle East conflict.
Earlier this month, Mr Trump hinted that the terms of the UK-US trade agreement brokered last year “can all the time be modified” during an interview with Sky News.
Addressing MPs at Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons, Sir Keir spoke candidly about the pressure being applied by the US over the Iran war. He told MPs: “My place on the Iran battle has been clear from the beginning. We’re not going to get dragged into this battle. It is just not our battle.
“A lot of pressure has been applied to me to take a different course, and that pressure included what happened last night. I’m not going to change my mind. I’m not going to yield. It is not in our national interest to join this war, and we will not do so. I know where I stand.”
Mr Trump’s feedback come a number of months after comparable US threats to impose contemporary tariffs and export controls on nations working digital taxes or laws that impression American tech giants. Several European nations, together with France, Italy and Spain, at present function a digital companies tax. In a publish on Truth Social from August 2025, Mr Trump declared he would “stand up to countries that attack our incredible American Tech Companies”. “Digital Taxes, Digital Services Legislation, and Digital Markets Regulations are all designed to harm, or discriminate against, American Technology,” he wrote. “This must end,” he declared, pledging that “unless these discriminatory actions are removed”, he would “impose substantial additional tariffs” on the exports of offending nations to the US.
Downing Street has been contacted for remark by PA Media.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2197805/trump-threatens-uk-huge-tariff