US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the G7 Meeting in Kananaskis, Alberta. Photo courtesy the Government of Canada.

On Sunday night, Canada’s finance minister announced the government would be rescinding the country’s digital services tax until further notice. The three percent tax on revenues over CAD$20 million earned from Canadian users has been delayed since 2022, but companies were supposed to make their first payments on Monday, backdated to the original start date. Unsurprisingly, tech executives were furious—and pressured their man in Washington, DC to step in.

Digital services taxes have long been a target of the US tech industry. As multinational tech giants—mostly based in America—grow dominant in markets around the world, governments have introduced these taxes to address a glaring issue: despite generating substantial revenues abroad, these companies often pay minimal tax by shifting profits to low-tax jurisdictions.

Several years ago, countries began working through the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on a global tax deal aimed at ensuring tech giants pay taxes where their revenues are actually generated—not where profits are shifted after the fact. But both the Biden and Trump administrations have obstructed key parts of the agreement, blocking meaningful progress.

When Trump returned to office in January, he effectively killed the global corporate tax arrangement. Even........

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