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 香蕉视频直播� 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 Trump香蕉视频直播檚 inauguration Monday. They included Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta香蕉视频直播檚 Mark Zuckerberg, Apple香蕉视频直播檚 Tim Cook and Google香蕉视频直播檚 Sundar Pichai, as well as Tesla CEO and vocal Trump supporter Elon Musk.

Meredith Lilly, a professor at Carleton University香蕉视频直播檚 Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, noted that Canada is a relatively small market for big U.S. tech companies.

香蕉视频直播淣evertheless, they are close with the Trump administration, and so I would anticipate that they have the president香蕉视频直播檚 ear to some extent,香蕉视频直播� she said. 香蕉视频直播淪o I do think that we should expect them to want some kind of action with Canada, in particular on the digital services tax.香蕉视频直播�

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.

It香蕉视频直播檚 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 香蕉视频直播渆xtraterritorial or disproportionately affect American companies.香蕉视频直播�

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.

香蕉视频直播淚 would expect any time thereafter for discussions with any country that has a digital services tax in place to accelerate quickly,香蕉视频直播� 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 香蕉视频直播渁n obvious target.香蕉视频直播�

He said in an online post Tuesday that 香蕉视频直播済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.香蕉视频直播�

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

香蕉视频直播淚 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 Canada香蕉视频直播檚 Online Streaming Act,香蕉视频直播� 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 香蕉视频直播� particularly the requirement that big foreign streaming companies contribute money toward the creation of Canadian content 香蕉视频直播� could worsen the trade conflict with the United States.

香蕉视频直播淣ow is not the time for Canada to invite retaliation on trade issues from the incoming administration,香蕉视频直播� 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 Association香蕉视频直播擟anada, which represents such big streaming companies as Netflix, Disney and Amazon, also recently launched an ad campaign against the CRTC香蕉视频直播檚 efforts, warning about a 香蕉视频直播渘ew tax that could drive prices up.香蕉视频直播�

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

Geist said another target could be Canada香蕉视频直播檚 Online News 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 Trump香蕉视频直播檚 threat to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canada, 香蕉视频直播渋n the hope of getting some concessions from the Canadian government.香蕉视频直播�

It could also use 香蕉视频直播渢he dispute resolution under CUSMA and the executive order 香蕉视频直播� to raise concerns and encourage Canada to delay or drop香蕉视频直播� 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 香蕉视频直播渙n the table.香蕉视频直播�