What is a digital services tax, and why is President Trump against it?

President Donald Trump recently threatened to raise tariffs on countries that have a digital services tax, accusing such nations of discriminating against major U.S. tech firms by trying to collect a percentage of their local earnings to make up for tax revenue lost in the digital era. “Digital Taxes, Digital Services Legislation, and Digital Markets Regulations are all designed to harm, or discriminate against, American Technology,” President Trump said in a social media post, which appeared to also take aim at European Union antitrust regulations on tech firms. Most countries that have enacted a digital services tax, or DST, have levied them against any tech company—American or otherwise—that earns above a certain threshold in their jurisdiction. The government of the United States has long opposed such taxes. A digital services tax is generally levied on the gross revenue that multinational tech firms earn in a particular country once they earn above a certain threshold from users in that jurisdiction. It’s a relatively new idea intended to make up for decreases in tax revenue from purchases in brick-and-mortar stores and traditional advertising, as consumers and advertisers moved online.