Washington DC - President Donald Trump threatened UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer with "a big tariff" if he doesn't drop the country's digital service tax, which has been in place since 2020.
In an interview with the Telegraph on Friday, Trump lashed out against the UK's Digital Service Tax (DST), which he says unfairly targets US tech companies such as Apple, Google, and X.
The tax, which was introduced in 2020 under then-Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson, imposes a 2% tax on the revenues of search engines, social media services, and online marketplaces that make money from UK users.
It is nonspecific to the US and imposes the same levy on all such companies, regardless of who they are owned by. Forecasts suggest that the DST may raise roughly $1.9 billion a year for the Exchequer by 2030.
"I don't like it when they target American companies, because basically, you're talking about our great American companies," Trump told the Telegraph.
"We've been looking at it, and we can meet that very easily by just putting a big tariff on the UK," he said. "So they better be careful. If they don't drop the tax, we'll probably put a big tariff on the UK."
Trump and Starmer's relationship sours
Trump and Starmer's relationship has increasingly soured over recent months, especially since the UK refused to get involved in the US and Israel's war of aggression against Iran.
In an interview with the BBC on Thursday, Trump indicated he may be willing to rebuild the relationship if next week's state visit by King Charles III goes well.
"Absolutely. He's fantastic. He's a fantastic man. Absolutely, the answer is yes," Trump said.
Trump's repeated threats and attacks on the UK have, however, thrown Charles' trip into doubt, as pressure mounts on Starmer to cancel the state visit in protest.