Oh Canada! Trump Bullies, Carney Blinks: Digital Tax Dropped in Last-Minute Climbdown
Facing threats of retaliatory tariffs, Ottawa scraps $2.7 billion levy on U.S. tech giants — a major concession to Trump.
Canada’s government announced on Sunday night that it would cancel a tax on American technology companies that led President Trump to suspend trade talks between the two countries, handing an important victory to Mr. Trump. Prime Minister Mark Carney discussed the decision to scrap Canada’s digital services tax with Mr. Trump on Sunday, Mr. Carney’s office said. In a sign that trade talks were resuming, Canada’s finance minister, François-Philippe Champagne, spoke with the United States Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, on Sunday, according to Mr. Carney’s office. The tax, which had been due to take effect on Monday, became the latest flashpoint in difficult negotiations between the United States and Canada on Friday, when Mr. Trump said the talks were off. On social media, Mr. Trump called the levy a “blatant attack” and said he would inform Canada within a week about the duties “they will be paying to do business with the United States of America.” Forty-eight hours later, the Canadian government folded, announcing it would not go ahead with the tax. The finance ministry said the government had decided to “rescind the Digital Services Tax in anticipation of a mutually beneficial comprehensive trade arrangement with the United States.” Technically, the cancellation of the tax needs to be approved in legislation, so until that time, the government is suspending its collection. Politically, canceling the tax should be a simple matter for the government. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Canada’s 3 percent digital services tax has been in place since last year, but the first payments were only due beginning on Monday. Because the tax is retroactive, American companies were preparing to turn over roughly $2.7 billion to the Canadian government, according to a trade group for large American tech companies - NYT
What is the digital services tax - CBC News?
Canada's digital services tax (DST) was set to affect mega companies that offer digital services — like online advertising or shopping — and earn more than $20 million in revenue from Canadian sources. Giant companies like Amazon, Apple, Airbnb, Google, Meta and Uber would be taxed three per cent on the money they make from Canadian users and customers. The levy has been in place since last year, but the first payments were due starting Monday. Since it was retroactive to 2022, U.S. companies were looking at a $2-billion US tax bill. Revenue is one big benefit. The Parliamentary Budget Office estimated last year that the tax would bring in more than $7 billion over five years. The Liberals first promised the tax during the federal election in 2019 under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, but it was delayed for years because a number of other nations wanted to work together on one, overarching digital taxation plan that could be applied in multiple countries. As the delays dragged on, Canada went ahead with its own tax plan. Aside from revenue, Ottawa has pitched the DST as a way to bring the tax code up to date and capture revenues earned in Canada by firms located abroad.
My hot take: Finding ways to stop the Tech Bros from getting richer is one of the few things people across the political spectrum can agree on. But pulling it off is another story. In the summer of 2023, Canada joined a growing number of democracies pushing back against Big Tech’s grip on news distribution. Ottawa introduced the Online News Act (Bill C-18), requiring platforms like Meta and Google to compensate publishers for carrying their content. Meta hit back hard—blocking news entirely on Facebook and Instagram for Canadian users. The move drew widespread condemnation as an attack on media access and democratic discourse. Modeled on Australia’s 2021 media bargaining code, Canada’s legislation was meant to set a global precedent. Meta claimed the law misunderstood how the internet works and insisted it gained little from news content. Still, the impact was immediate: one study cited by the CBC found a 90% drop in Canadian news views on Facebook. With similar laws brewing in the U.S., U.K., and beyond, Canada had a chance to lead. That’s why the Carney government’s decision to cave to Trump’s pressure—by scrapping a digital tax and blinking in the face of Big Tech—feels not just short-sighted, but like a gut punch to the struggle against Big Tech dominance.
Radio Free Asia has halted its Cantonese-language service after 27 years due to funding cuts by US President Donald Trump’s administration. In a letter posted to its website on Monday, the Cantonese service said it would cease publishing news from Tuesday – the 28th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from Britain to China. “Following funding cuts by the US government, the size of Radio Free Asia’s team has continued to shrink. Our Cantonese service… will stop updating news from tomorrow,” the Chinese-language letter read. “The news on our website will become history and stay there indefinitely,” the letter added. The letter also said there had been plans since last year to rename Radio Free Asia’s Cantonese service as “RFA HK,” following a huge surge in the Hong Kong audience since 2019, when the city was swept by large-scale pro-democracy protests and unrest. “After Apple Daily, Stand News, and Hong Kong Citizen News disappeared, with self-censorship at mainstream media outlets in Hong Kong becoming increasingly common, the Cantonese service of Radio Free Asia became one of the news outlets that Hongkongers relied on,” the letter said. But in March, Trump signed an executive order to defund the outlet’s parent agency, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which also funds news organisations such as Voice of America. The closure of the Cantonese service followed shutdowns of other Radio Free Asia language services last month, including a rare Uyghur news service, as well as those in Tibetan and Burmese. Its Lao service was halted in March following Trump’s cuts. As of this week, production in Mandarin, Korean, Khmer, Vietnamese, and English were still operating - HKFP
Russian forces have taken control of the first village in the east-central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk, Russian state media and war bloggers said on Monday, after Russia took 950 square kms of territory in two months. There was no immediate confirmation from Ukrainian sources or from the Russian Defence Ministry. As Moscow and Kyiv talk of possible peace, the war has intensified with Russian forces carving out a 200 square kilometre (77.22 square miles) chunk of Ukraine's Sumy region and entering the Dnipropetrovsk region last month. The authoritative Ukrainian Deep State map shows that Russia now controls 113,588 square kms of Ukrainian territory, up 943 square km over the two months to June 28. Russia's state RIA news agency quoted a pro-Russian official, Vladimir Rogov, as saying that Russian forces had taken control of the village of Dachnoye just inside the Dnipropetrovsk region. Russia has said it is willing to make peace but that Ukraine must withdraw from the entirety of four regions which Russia mostly controls and which President Vladimir Putin says are now legally part of Russia. Ukraine and its European backers say those terms are tantamount to capitulation and that Russia is not interested in peace and that they will never accept Russian control of a fifth of Ukraine. The areas under Russian control include Crimea, more than 99% of the Luhansk region, over 70% of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, all in the east or southeast, and fragments of the Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions - Reuters
Ukraine’s SBU security agency says Russian intelligence officers are using local one-time young recruits in a sabotage campaign. So far, there have been more than a dozen attacks in which the perpetrator was injured or killed, according to a Ukrainian law enforcement source. The campaign inside Ukraine started last spring, SBU spokesperson Artem Dekhtiarenko told the Guardian. To begin with, it involved arson attacks on military vehicles, conscription offices and post offices. It was primarily aimed at western Ukrainian regions, far from the front. Ukrainians, often teenagers, were offered money via Telegram to carry out the attacks by “curators” who used a mixture of enticements and blackmail to snare their recruits. The perpetrators then had to make a video of the fire on their phones, and send the recording as proof the deed had been done. The videos would invariably find their way on to Russia-friendly Telegram channels, as supposed evidence of discontent inside Ukraine, stoking real social tensions over issues such as conscription that have flared during Russia’s war on the country. These attacks were part of a secret shadow war, raging in parallel with the conflict on the frontlines. Russia is also carrying out arson and sabotage attacks in European countries, according to multiple western intelligence agencies, while Ukrainian services are believed to be behind a number of arson attacks at conscription offices in Russia earlier in the war - Guardian
Russian state media and war bloggers are reporting that Russian forces have seized the first village in the Ukraine region of Dnipropetrovsk. I labelled Russia's assault on Ukraine Saturday/Sunday as "air armageddon" as NATO scrambles its fighter jets. Watch my interview on ABC Australia’s The World.
China’s Communist Party had more than 100 million members by the end of 2024, an increase of about 1 per cent from the previous year, according to official data released ahead of the party’s 104th anniversary. However, the rate of membership growth has continued to slow, with one insider attributing this to stricter screening by the Central Organisation Department (COD), the party’s top personnel office. In keeping with tradition, the membership data for the previous year was released a day ahead of the July 1 celebrations marking the party’s founding in 1921. According to the COD, the party had 100.27 million members by the end of 2024, a net increase of 1.09 million, or 1.1 per cent. That compares with 1.2 per cent growth in 2023 and 1.4 per cent in 2022, indicating continued slowing. China’s ruling party continues to be the world’s No 2 political party by membership strength, after India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party – which claimed to have crossed 140 million members last week - SCMP
Right-wing British news channel GB News is launching in the United States, it announced Monday, the latest challenger to enter the fray as British media titles beef up their coverage of the Donald Trump White House. The broadcaster has shaken up rolling TV news coverage in the U.K. with a more stridently right-wing editorial line. It said Monday that it will set up a Washington bureau and launching a nightly two-hour dedicated U.S. show hosted by Bev Turner. “We’ve seen time and again this year that a decision made on one day in Washington, D.C. is felt the next day in Washington, Tyne and Wear,” said GB News’ Editorial Director Michael Booker. “It’s essential The People’s Channel is right there, reporting live, asking the tough questions, and telling it like it is.” Booker added: “While others scale back on live free coverage, GB News is investing in our content. Our new Washington investment, our expanded programming, and our brilliant on-the-ground team will ensure we’re not just reporting on the story but that we’re right at the heart of it.” Since launching with a host of technical problems and high-profile staff churn in 2021, GB News has pushed through teething troubles to become a fixture of British political broadcasting. It hired veteran political journalist Christopher Hope as political editor in 2023, and regularly broadcasts interviews with leading British government ministers. Nigel Farage, the leader of Britain’s insurgent Reform UK party, also has his own show on the channel. GB News’ rise has not been without controversy, and it has at times butted heads with Britain’s broadcast watchdog Ofcom. GB News will enter a crowded U.S. market with a plethora of existing right-wing channels including Fox News, Newsmax and One America News Network. British media outlets including The Times and The Sun have in recent months moved key staff to Washington to report back on developments under Trump - Politico
Famed investor Warren Buffett is donating $6 billion worth of his company’s stock to five foundations, bringing the total he has given to them since 2006 to roughly $60 billion, based on their value when received. Buffett said late Friday that the shares of Berkshire Hathaway will be delivered on Monday. Berkshire Hathaway owns Geico, Dairy Queen and a range of other businesses, and Buffett is donating nearly 12.4 million of the Class B shares of its stock. Those shares have a lower and easier-to-digest price tag than the company’s original Class A shares, and each of the B shares was worth $485.68 at their most recent close on Friday. The largest tranche is going to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, which will receive 9.4 million shares. The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation will receive 943,384 shares, and the Sherwood Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation and NoVo Foundation will each receive 660,366 shares. Buffett made waves a year ago when he said he plans to cut off donations to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation after his death and let his three children decide how to distribute the rest of his fortune - AP
The journals….
