Trump believes ‘he can make Canada a state,' political analyst says
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CTV News' U.S. political analyst Eric Ham says that Trump believes 'enough pressure will make Canada concede' and become the 51st state.
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Canada News.Net
36 minutes ago
- Canada News.Net
Canada withdraws Digital Services Tax following suspension of trade talks by Trump
Ontario [Canada], July 1 (ANI): Canada has officially withdrawn its proposed digital services tax, aiming to revive trade negotiations with the US, just days after US President Donald Trump halted discussions in protest of the levy, Al Jazeera reported on Monday. As per Al Jazeera, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Sunday announced that he and President Trump had reached an agreement to restart talks, targeting a July 21, deadline outlined at the recent G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis. The now-scrapped tax, which was set to take effect from Monday, would have imposed a 3 per cent levy on revenues earned by digital services companies from Canadian users above USD 20 million in a calendar year, retroactive to 2022, as per Al Jazeera. It was intended to target online platforms, digital advertising, social media, and data monetisation, impacting major US tech firms such as Apple, Google (Alphabet), Amazon, and Meta. President Trump denounced the tax on Friday, calling it 'a direct and blatant attack on our Country,' in defence of American tech giants, as reported by Al Jazeera. Criticism followed the Canadian government's decision to withdraw the tax. Tech analyst and journalist Paris Marx told Al Jazeera that the move signals Canada's vulnerability to US pressure, arguing that digital services taxes are crucial to ensuring large multinational tech firms contribute fairly to the countries in which they operate. Marx pointed out that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) efforts to establish a global framework for digital taxation have stalled largely due to US resistance under both the Biden and Trump administrations, leading many countries to adopt their own taxes. 'It has been continually delayed for years in the hope that a diplomatic process in the OECD would create an international framework to ensure those companies pay more tax in countries around the world. But the United States, under [former US President Joe] Biden and Trump, has ensured it's been unable to move forward... More countries are enacting digital services taxes for that very reason, and Canada is wrong to back down,' he stated as quoted by Al Jazeera. Canada's Finance Ministry confirmed the suspension of tax collection and said Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne will introduce legislation to repeal the Digital Services Tax (DST) Act. The ministry reiterated that the DST was originally introduced in 2020 to address the low tax burden of large tech companies operating in Canada but emphasised Canada's preference for a multilateral solution, as reported by Al Jazeera. As per Al Jazeera, citing the US Census Bureau, Canada is a major trading partner for the US, second only to Mexico, and purchased USD 349.4 billion worth of American goods last year, while exporting USD 412.7 billion to the US. While Canada avoided sweeping US tariffs introduced in April, it still faces a 50 per cent duty on steel and aluminium exports to the US, Al Jazeera reported. (ANI)
Canada News.Net
36 minutes ago
- Canada News.Net
Canada scraps tax on tech giants in bid to revive US trade talks
US President Donald Trump had halted negotiations with Ottawa over what he called an "attack" on American companies Canada has shelved its plan to slap a digital services tax (DST) on tech companies in a bid to get trade talks with the US back on track, reversing course just as the measure was due to kick in. The 3% tax, passed into law last year by the government of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, was set to take effect on Monday and would have been applied retroactively to 2022-2024 profits. It would have primarily targeted US companies like Amazon, Google and Meta, costing them an estimated $3 billion. "Today's announcement will support a resumption of negotiations toward the July 21, 2025 timeline set out at this month's G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis," Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement on Sunday. "Canada's new government will always be guided by the overall contribution of any possible agreement to the best interests of Canadian workers and businesses," he added. Carney and Trump agreed to resume trade talks when they met earlier this month at the G7 summit, where the prime minister said they had agreed to finalizing a new economic agreement within 30 days. Canadian Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne wrote on X late on Sunday that dropping the levy would allow Ottawa "to make vital progress and reinforce our work to create jobs and build prosperity for all Canadians." On Friday, US President Donald Trump had denounced the tax hike as a "direct and blatant attack on our country" and threatened to terminate all trade negotiations that had been ongoing between the North American neighbors for months. He also vowed to impose new tariffs on Canadian goods within a week. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick welcomed the reversal, saying the tax "would have been a deal breaker for any trade deal with America." Tensions between the two countries have been mounting since February, when Trump imposed a 25% tariff on Canadian goods shortly after taking office. Ottawa responded with reciprocal duties, though Trump later suspended the measure, saying he was open to country-specific deals that benefit US businesses. Trump has long accused Canada of exploiting US trade and on several occasions suggested it should become America's 51st state. This fueled the ambitions of the country's Liberal Party and Carney's election campaign. Shortly before taking office as prime minister, he described Trump's tariffs as "unjustified" and stated that "Canada will win" the trade war with the US. On March 14, the day he was sworn in, he vowed that the country "will never, ever, in any way, shape, or form, be part of the United States." Canada is the US's second-largest trading partner after Mexico, and the top buyer of US exports. According to the US Census Bureau, it imported $349 billion in American goods last year and exported $412 billion to the US.
National Post
an hour ago
- National Post
Don Braid: Alberta's pro-Canada forces move to thwart separatists by setting referendum question
Surprise, a pro-Canada team beat the separatists to an Alberta referendum. On the eve of Canada Day, Elections Alberta approved an official signature drive on the question: Article content Article content 'Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada?' Article content If enough signatures are collected, there will be a full provincial vote on the question. Article content Thomas Lukaszuk, who leads the pro-Canada campaign, figures that any separatist petition is now dead in the water. Article content Article content The legislation governing these votes specifically states that two referenda on the same general subject cannot be approved. Article content Article content In other words, you can't have a vote both on whether Alberta should stay in Canada, and another one on whether Alberta should leave. Article content Elections Alberta confirms that duelling referenda aren't allowed. Article content The authority reviews applications in the order they're received, and Lukaszuk was first to submit a question that met legal requirements. Article content The separatist Alberta Prosperity Project wants the referendum question to be: 'Do you agree that the Province of Alberta shall become an independent country and cease to be a province of Canada?' Article content Lukaszuk's question is in the political category, meaning a successful vote would force Premier Danielle Smith and the UCP to accept the results. Article content Article content Article content While Elections Canada's ruling came down just before Canada Day, Smith's new referendum rules will take effect July 4, America's Independence Day. Article content That may be not be intentional, but it sure is suggestive. Article content Smith's changes ease the requirement for a referendum to 177,732 signatures, representing 10 per cent of those who voted in the last election.
