Latest news with #FrancoisPhilippeChampagne
CNA
21 hours ago
- Business
- CNA
Trump cuts off US trade talks with Canada, shattering optimism over tariff deals
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Friday (Jun 27) abruptly cut off trade talks with Canada over its new tax targeting US technology firms, calling it a "blatant attack" and saying that he would set a new tariff rate on Canadian goods within the next week. The move, which plunges US relations with its second-largest trading partner back into chaos after a period of relative calm, came just hours after Trump's Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, struck an upbeat tone on trade. It also follows a Jun 19 announcement by Canadian Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne that Canada would not pause its longstanding plans to implement a digital services tax starting Jun 30 on US technology firms including Amazon, Meta, Google and Apple, among others. Trump, in a post on his Truth Social media platform, called the tax "a direct and blatant attack on our country" and said Canada was a "very difficult country to trade with." "Based on this egregious tax, we are hereby terminating all discussions on trade with Canada, effective immediately," Trump said. "We will let Canada know the tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period." Canada is the second-largest US trading partner after Mexico, buying US$349.4 billion of US goods last year and exporting US$412.7 billion to the US, according to US Census Bureau data. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Jun 16 he had agreed with Trump that their two nations should try to wrap up a new economic and security deal within 30 days.
Al Jazeera
21 hours ago
- Business
- Al Jazeera
Trump says US ending all negotiations with Canada over digital tax
United States President Donald Trump has said the US is immediately ending trade talks with Canada in response to the country's digital services tax on technology companies, in a clear escalation of pressure tactics. Trump in a post on his Truth Social platform on Friday called the Canadian tax a 'direct and blatant attack on our country' and said: 'Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately'. He added, 'We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period.' Canada had approved the Digital Services Tax act on June 20, 2024 and it came into force shortly after on June 28. Under this, Canada will charge a tax of 3 percent of the digital services revenue a firm makes from Canadian users above 20 million Canadian dollars ($14.6m) in a calendar year. Businesses have been calling for a pause saying it would increase the cost of providing services as well as raise the wrath of the US government. But the Canadian federal government so far has refused and is proceeding with the plans. The Canadian Revenue Authority is set to start collecting the tax on Monday and will cover revenue retroactively to 2022. Last week finance minister Francois-Philippe Champagne suggested to reporters that the digital tax may be negotiated as part of broader, ongoing US-Canada trade discussions, Bloomberg news reported. Those discussions seemed to have been going well and a trade deal was expected in July. Now the status of that is unclear. 'This is definitely escalation from Trump,' said Vina Nadjibulla, vice president of research and strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. 'But we have seen this tactic before. Canada will need to work behind the scenes to find an off ramp without giving into his demands,' she said. 'Digital tax is also part of Trump's negotiations with the European Union. Canada will need to coordinate with the EU and other partners as it contemplates its response,' Nadjibulla added. Rachel Ziemba, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Al Jazeera that while Trump's declaration was unfortunate, it was 'not surprising' adding, it would also act as a scare tactic for the EU with whom the US is still negotiating its trade deal. Tariffs on Canadian goods are bad for both the US and Canada as they increase the cost for businesses and ultimately consumers, experts say.
National Post
20-06-2025
- Business
- National Post
Canada won't pause digital services tax despite pressure from U.S., finance minister says
OTTAWA — Canada won't put a hold on the digital services tax on big tech companies set to take effect on June 30, the finance minister said Thursday. Article content Article content Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said Thursday the legislation was passed by Parliament and Canada is 'going ahead' with the tax. Article content Article content 'The (digital services tax) is in force and it's going to be applied,' he told reporters before a cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill. Article content Article content It will apply retroactively, leaving U.S. companies with a $2 billion US bill due at the end of the month. A June 11 letter signed by 21 members of Congress said U.S. companies will pay 90 per cent of the revenue Canada will collect from the tax. Article content Canadian and U.S. business groups, organizations representing U.S. tech giants and American members of Congress have all signed letters in recent weeks calling for the tax to be eliminated or paused. Article content It's set to take effect just weeks before a deadline Canada and the U.S. have set for coming up with a new trade deal, following months of trade conflict between the two countries. Article content Rick Tachuk, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Canada, said the plan to go ahead with the tax 'undercuts those talks and risks derailing the agreement.' Article content Article content 'A retroactive tax like the DST, weeks before a new deal is supposed to be done, isn't a bargaining chip. It would likely be viewed as a provocation,' he said in an emailed statement. Article content Article content The Canadian Chamber of Commerce and other organizations have warned retaliatory measures in a U.S. spending and tax bill could hit Canadians' pension funds and investments. Article content Champagne said Canada isn't the only country that could be affected by those retaliatory measures. Article content David Pierce, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce's vice-president of government relations, said in an earlier interview his organization fears Canada could 'aggravate an already very tricky trade discussion with the Americans' if it goes ahead with the tax and the retroactive payment requirement. Article content Matthew Holmes, the chamber's executive vice-president and chief of public policy, said in a statement that a Liberal government announcement on counter-tariffs to protect the steel and aluminum industries Thursday was 'geared toward the 30-day deadline, so we see no reason why DST's timeline shouldn't be as well.'
CTV News
19-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Champagne says Canada won't pause digital services tax
Minister of Finance and National Revenue Francois-Philippe Champagne rises during Question Period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Monday, June 2, CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld OTTAWA — Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne says Canada is going ahead with its digital services tax on big tech companies that is set to take effect on June 30. Pressure has mounted on Ottawa to put the tax on hold ahead of trade discussions with the U.S. More coming. The Canadian Press
CTV News
09-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Canadian safety institute announces research projects as global focus shifts to AI adoption
Innovation, Science and Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, right, and founder and scientific director of MILA-Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute Yoshua Bengio answer media questions following the launch the Canadian Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute in Montreal on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi OTTAWA — The Canadian Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute will fund research projects focusing on misinformation, generative AI and the safety of autonomous systems. It says the initial 10 projects will receive $100,000 each from its research program. They include an initiative led by AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio that will look at the hidden reasons driving decisions by large language models, a type of generative AI focused on text. The Canadian AI Safety Institute was launched last year, part of a global network of publicly backed safety institutes that emerged following a wave of calls from experts for AI regulation. But there has been a global shift towards focusing on AI adoption over safety initiatives in recent months. In Canada, the Liberal government plans to prioritize AI's economic potential as it hosts the upcoming G7 summit, and new AI minister Evan Solomon has said nothing so far about his job description. Article by Anja Karadeglija.
