Canada has scrapped its planned digital services tax on US tech firms late on Sunday, just hours before it was due to come into effect.
The move aims to revive stalled trade talks with the US, which President Trump suddenly halted on Friday over the tax, calling it a “blatant attack” on American tech companies.
US stock futures rose as investors welcomed the news. Benchmark stock indexes in Tokyo and Shanghai also moved higher amid optimism that the US and its top trading partners can hammer out trade deals.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Trump now plan to reach a deal by July 21, Canada’s finance ministry said.
Trump warned on Friday that he would set new tariffs on Canadian goods within a week, risking fresh tension between the two countries.
The White House has set a July 9 deadline for trading partners to broker deals with the US over the sweeping ‘reciprocal’ tariff rates announced in early April.
The 3% tech tax would have hit firms like Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), and Amazon (AMZN) starting on Monday. Canada will now bring forward legislation to cancel the tax.
“The DST was announced in 2020 to address the fact that many large technology companies operating in Canada may not otherwise pay tax on revenues generated from Canadians,” a statement from the Canadian finance ministry said. “Canada’s preference has always been a multilateral agreement related to digital services taxation.”