The White House said Canada, along with France, both levy digital taxes, and they cost U.S. firms $2 billion a year.

Canada’s Digital Services Tax could become a victim of the escalating trade fight with the United States before the first payments under the regime come due after it was singled out by the White House Thursday as part of President Donald Trump ’s plan to impose reciprocal tariffs on U.

McKercher said the language used by Trump in his tariff directive “gives the game away.” Essentially, by proposing 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods, except energy which was set at 10 per cent, Trump is revealing the country’s dependency on cheap Canadian energy and a concern about prices rising too high for Americans.

President Donald Trump is taking a blowtorch to the rules that have governed world trade for decades. The “reciprocal’’ tariffs that he announced Thursday are likely to create chaos for global businesses and conflict with America’s allies and adversaries alike.