Image from YouTube (Video uploaded by Times Radio on June 28, 2025)
President Trump has never been shy about using tariffs as a weapon. He has launched trade wars on multiple fronts – slapping tariffs on steel, aluminium, autos, and even French wine. Canada, Europe, Mexico, China, Australia – no ally or adversary was spared his self-declared “America First” crusade.
But now that Canada has dared to impose a digital services tax on American tech giants – targeting companies like Google, Amazon, and Meta – Trump has taken it as a personal insult. He’s accused the Canadian government of disrespect, threatened retaliation, and described the policy as a “direct and blatant attack on our country.” Yep, he said that.
It’s the kind of response that might make you forget Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium in the name of “national security,” prompting outrage from Ottawa and confusion everywhere else. Or that he bullied allies into trade concessions by threatening to raise tariffs on everything from autos to cheese. Or that he praised tariffs as “beautiful” while they triggered higher costs for American consumers and businesses.
What we’re seeing now is vintage Trump: a man who can dish it out but can’t take it. When he taxes foreign goods, it’s “smart negotiating.” When a foreign country taxes U.S. companies doing billions in untaxed business within its borders, it’s “economic warfare.”
Canada’s tax is hardly radical. It reflects growing global frustration with the way massive tech companies operate across borders while paying minimal tax. Many European countries have proposed or implemented similar levies. These firms extract data, generate revenue, and shape public discourse in democratic societies – yet often pay less tax than a corner shop.
For a man who constantly bangs the drum about fairness and sovereignty, Trump’s outrage rings hollow. Isn’t Canada just asserting its right to govern its own market – just as Trump claimed to do when he threw up tariffs on half the planet?
His outburst is less about defending American workers and more about protecting American corporations – particularly those powerful enough to influence the public narrative, including his own. It’s a telling contradiction: Trump “rails against Big Tech” for “censorship,” but jumps to their defence when their profits are challenged overseas.
If anything, Canada’s move should be a wake-up call: global powers – yes, even friendly ones – are no longer afraid to stand up to the United States, especially when the U.S. president plays favourites and throws fits.
In the end, Trump’s tantrum says less about Canada’s tax policy than it does about his own: loud, reactive, and hypocritical to the core.
Independent sites such as The AIMN provide a platform for public interest journalists. From its humble beginning in January 2013, The AIMN has grown into one of the most trusted and popular independent media organisations.
One of the reasons we have succeeded has been due to the support we receive from our readers through their financial contributions.
With increasing costs to maintain The AIMN, we need this continued support.
Your donation – large or small – to help with the running costs of this site will be greatly appreciated.
You can donate through PayPal or credit card via the button below, or donate via bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969
If there’s one thing more reliable than a Murdoch headline claiming Western civilisation is under…
Here in 2035 it’s hard to remember how bad things used to be back before…
By Denis Hay 🎧 Listen to this article: Discover why public service models outperform private…
By Denis Bright Drumming up support for Palestine in the spirit of the recent…
By Andrew Klein Jesus' teachings and the concept of Nash Equilibrium may appear to be…
Far north in the boughs of a blood-redwood tree, where the morning mist curls and…
View Comments
The anality of Trump, all stink but no think. May his earholes convert to arseholes so he shits on his shirt and shoulders. His ugly coloured dial suggests he is full of it...
Good on you Canada. You have shown the backbone to stand up against this bully. Now for the rest to do the same ??
Classic Dumpster, "Do as I say, not as I do." followed by petulant tantrums when someone doesn't bow down to the Orange Emperor's whims.
Tariffs (import taxes) only apply once the goods arrive from overseas suppliers at the sea and airports in the US and the taxes are then paid by the importers before the goods are released. In the conventional way of doing business, the importer then passes these tax impositions on down the line until they reach the ultimate consumer.
Prices of many consumer goods in the US are already increasing as these import taxes flow through despite Trump calling on Walmart and other major retailers to absorb these increases......Hello!
The next tantrum will be about inflation as the self-imposed taxes push up the cost of living. The question is, who will Donald blame for this?
Months ago I referred to the Western democracies as “clown shows”, an assertion that was strongly disputed at the time.
Since then the circus has got worse, not better.
We have European leaders rattling their swords as though they cannot wait for WW3.
It’s not enough for Europe that they have NATO for defence -- they are making the EU a military bloc with an economy based on military Keynesianism, and restrictions on freedom of movement and thought that are unashamedly fascist.
We have Australia trying to straddle the barbed wire fence that is the Middle East -- supporting genocide while calling for restraint.
We have Australia and Europe still funneling aid to Ukraine for a war that everyone knows is lost, with no thought as to the Ukrainians who will suffer and die by prolonging the conflict.
And of course we have the Ringmaster dazzling all and sundry with a bag of tricks so deep that no-one can foretell what’s coming up next.
But what does all this tell us?
It tells us that the Ringmaster is not the problem.
That things will not improve at the end of his term.
That he’s a symptom of a far more serious ailment.
I have to admit, he is sensationally bad, hence the attention he commands.
But perhaps that’s a good thing.
Perhaps we need a sensationally bad product of the system to make us wake up to that fact that the system is the problem.
That great, big, fat, orange man-baby now thinks he is the dictator of the world, not just America. No thanks to the bluthering waffle from those NATO sycophants. In the orange idiots little fantasy world he is the all powerful, all intelligent being, everything he utters is fact, everything he utters is true, everything he does is the most magnificent and spectacular of all time, everything he does must be obeyed...........or you will be obliterated or tariffed.
Yet despite all of that he still does not even know how tariffs even work. Heaven forbid any company who imports stuff even thinks about passing on the tariff cost to consumers. Companies with factories overseas MUST now make their stuff in America............tomorrow...........or you will be tariffed.
I think it is way past time someone sent in the ICE agents, stormtroopers, US Marshals, CIA, FBI or any other 3 letter agency and get rid of this clown.
Australia could follow Canada 'But now that Canada has dared to impose a digital services tax on American tech giants – targeting companies like Google, Amazon, and Meta – Trump has taken it as a personal insult.'
Guess our most significant imports and causes of trade deficit are importing US finance & investment, exporting dividends, plus importing digital services; wouldn't take much to run a campaign vs the latter?
Ever since the LNP govt. & Murdoch took the lead and thought it was worthwhile to do a shakedown of an existential threat, US Big Tech? Now Murdoch and Tech Bros. are complicit chums vs the centre?
Steve Davis, Fox News talking points and framing by nudging people away from Putin and his Anglo allies, on 'special operation' or war Putin started?
Not victim blaming, but using Ukrainian victims as an excuse for the defenders to yield to aggressors in Putin and his allies, very moral and ethical not
'We have Australia and Europe still funneling aid to Ukraine for a war that everyone knows is lost, with no thought as to the Ukrainians who will suffer and die by prolonging the conflict.'
News is Canada has rescinded the mooted 'Digital Services Tax' after T-Rump tantrum halted trade negotiations with Canada's Carney. Now the trade negotiations can resume.
Yeesh, that T-Rump could turn so many 'leaders' into spineless jellyfish!
None of this of course will be The Dumpsters fault. It will be because the rest of the world envies what The Orange Emperor, with his gigantic genius in everything, has done for 'merica. They're jealous and envious of the greatest economy EVER and seek to destroy it.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/25/investing/us-dollar-decline-currency-markets