Trump threatens extra tariffs, tech export bans, for any nation that dares to regulate Big Tech US president Donald Trump has threatened to impose extra tariffs on imports from any nation that dares to regulate American technology companies. Trump took to Truth Social on Monday evening to declare “As the President of the United States, I will stand up to Countries that attack our incredible American Tech Companies.” “ …
But what will the commentards here do?
Readership here has far more power to replace, avoid, and cancel US tech services than any other group, and far more than politicians actually do.
Less bluster and outrage, more action decoupling from the US. More effort implementing alternatives. More effort internally promoting non US tech within your organisations.
The orange ones threats to anyone who paints a target on themselves, are real and costly, but he has no way to stem a flood of customers steadily dropping one service after another.
Cancel USA starting today. Get on it folks.
From the article :
"“America, and American Technology Companies, are neither the ‘piggy bank’ nor the ‘doormat’ of the World any longer,” he added, before wrapping things up with a demand to “Show respect to America and our amazing Tech Companies or, consider the consequences!”"
Everyone pays for the goods or services. That is the reason the US tech companies are strong businesses with vast profits.
So how is it that every other country paying for US tech, means we are somehow taking advantage of US tech companies who make vast profits ?
Maybe a cynic would view this latest statement as the precursor for Trump to levy a tax on what we purchase from the US tech companies.
(it is only fair that the US is compensated for every other country exploiting the US tech companies by purchasing their goods.... /s)
These companies are latter day equivalents of the East India Company. They exist to loot. The idea that the looted can put a tax on them, i.e. be looted a bit less, means stealing profits or claiming sovereignty. Prepare to be locked up as a 'rebel' and a 'terrorist' for resisting these looters.
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Everyone just plain acting as volatile as that Unhinged Orange Nutbag should do it in the end ... announce 150% tariffs on Monday, 10% on Tuesday, 2000% on Wednesday, 5% on Thursday, 666% on Friday, rinse and repeat plus add random export taxes to further folly it up, until post offices worldwide just plain stop shipping to anywhere ... and even DHL and UPS give up!
Well, that'll be a right #winning plan for an Insane Lunatic Orange to self-impose an own-country trade embargo goal, treating the US itself as a Cuba, a North Korea, an Iran and the likes, from within, in true Manchurian Candidate style, squarely focused on Making Russia Great Again (and only Russia)!
He will just put out any old tat on his Twitter knock off to try and distract people from the Epstein files controversy won't he?
The big American tech companies would rather pay the digital service taxes to remain in the countries outside the US, than risk the orangutan coming along and threatening tariffs which might mean that other countries adopt more home grown tech and start to eat into the US tech companies share price.
Recent history suggests two possible outcomes: The world will try to negotiate with Washington about this matter and end up making modest concessions the president claims as a win, or nothing happens because Trump’s posts are often thought bubbles.
Nothing happens .... when more often than not Trump’s posts are thought bubbles revealing systemic global vulnerabilities and specific national weaknesses for universal adversarial exploitation and future competitive hostile force activity ‽‽‽
Oh please ..... you cannot be serious. It’s manna from heaven for all those alternative sources and foreign resources coveted and imagined ineffective and rendered powerless if subject to temporary trade sanction and/or tariff imposition attack.
Does Uncle Sam not realise nor recognise it is global financial and stock market system abuse and serious serial self harm, gravely to regarded and avoided at any cost because of the inevitable and suddenly arriving and unstoppable consequences which always naturally happen as a direct result of such crazy supported behaviour ??
Don’t they have any Special AIR Services* which dare to care and share the awarenesses for win wins rather than forever to be losing bankrupting fights for vainglorious nonsensical Pyrrhic victories?
* .... Special Advanced IntelAIgently Resourced Services
It is not as if such as be Special AIR Services are a deep and dark and unknown TS/SCI commodity not readily available, ..... and for considerably less than the many billions of dollars which are constantly invented, quantitatively eased into and squandered by current corrupted legacy systems promising secure defence for offensive operations, ..... from one of those new fangled and quantum entangling out of town, out of this world outfitters displaying exceptional awareness and surprising expertise in the genre, is it.
Or is that the case?
...... and although I didn’t say exactly ......
The choice is clear. Support reforms that protect American defense innovation, or watch foreign competitors systematically capture the technologies that should strengthen American military capabilities. ..... https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2025/8/27/commentary-on-sbir-reauthorization-defense-companies-getting-outplayed-on-contracts
......I do not disagree, and to the Noble and Bold Future Brave be IT Supremacy with AI Command with of Human Control, the Victors’ Spoils. Carpe diem... aut morere insatisfactus.
The Past is Dead and Long Gone and the Present is Best Accepted and Realised as an Old and Rapidly, Constantly Changing Version of a Future for Testing with the Remote Virtual Delivery of Vital Organic and Essential Existential Supplies.
So America refuses to enforce anything to make sure their big Tech companies pay any tax on home soil.
And any countries who try to even the playing field get the big guns of one of the worlds biggest economies pointed at them.
And America does not see themselves as the bully here?
> Most use legal-but-cynical schemes to minimize tax, which is why many nations devised digital services taxes and other measures to ensure Big Tech pays its share;
Apple and Google use blatantly illegal tax avoidance.
That they can avoid successful prosecutions, and bluff tax departments into not trying, does not make what they do legal, anymore than a drive by random shooting is legal because they can't catch the person who did it, or murdering my spouse in international waters is legal because I dropped the murder weapon and the body over the side so they can't get a conviction.
I wish people would stop parroting the "What we are doing is legal tax minimisation". It is not. Our tax department prosecutes (relentlessly) small people doing exactly the same things.
What they are doing is illegal. Structuring it behind a huge cross-border cloud of smoke, using tax havens, corrupt US presidents they pay bribes to, and using intimidation to get away with their crimes does not lessen the illegality one bit. In fact all of these things are explicitly illegal.
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