US confirms resumption of trade talks with Canada
Washington (dpa) An economic adviser to US President Donald Trump has said that trade talks will resume immediately with Canada after Ottawa decided to rescind its digital services tax (DST) on US tech companies."Oh, absolutely," Kevin Hassett told Fox News on Monday when asked if negotiations would now take place. "One of the things that the president asked for was that they would take the DST tax off. It's something that they've studied and now they've agreed to and for sure, that means that we can get back to negotiations." Canada decided to withdraw the DST "in anticipation of a mutually beneficial comprehensive trade arrangement with the United States," a statement from the Canadian Finance Ministry said on Sunday. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Trump are hoping to find an agreement by July 21, the statement added. On Friday, Trump halted trade talks with Canada after sharply criticising the tax, saying it was a direct attack on the US.He accused Ottawa of copying the European Union, which had implemented a similar measure. Trump noted that discussions with the EU on this issue were ongoing.The US is by far Canada's most important trading partner.Canada had introduced the DST during the tenure of then-US president Joe Biden.The DST required large domestic and foreign companies to pay a 3% tax on certain revenues generated through online users in Canada.
Trump has ripped up trade deals across the globe and imposed higher tariffs as he seeks what he says is a rebalancing to put US workers first.
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