President Donald Trump warned on Friday that he would impose 100% tariffs on European goods if countries in the region introduce digital services taxes targeting US tech giants.
Writing on Truth Social, Trump said "numerous" European nations were considering such measures and that some were "close" to implementing them.
"Any Country that imposes such a Tax will immediately be met with a 100% TARIFF on any and all Goods sent to the United States of America," he wrote.
Trump added that the tariffs would supersede existing trade agreements, "whether implemented, signed, or not," and would take effect immediately if countries proceeded with the taxes.
Digital services taxes are designed to ensure large technology companies pay taxes in markets where they generate revenue, even if they have limited physical operations there.
Any such measure would affect major US firms including Google and Meta.
Austria has required large online platforms to pay a 5% tax on advertising revenue generated in the country since 2020.
Britain already has a digital services tax in place, which applies to major US technology companies. Trump has previously threatened similar tariffs over such measures, but never followed through.
Germany, the largest economy in Europe, has debated introducing a levy on large internet platforms.
The country's politically independent media commissioner Wolfram Weimer has advocated a dedicated charge on companies such as Google to support Germany's media system, while members of the governing centre-left Social Democrats have favoured a more traditional digital services tax.
