Mark Zuckerberg pressed Trump on digital taxes before EU tariff threat: report

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg had visited President Trump last week to discuss the threat of digital service taxes, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the private meeting.

Days after the meeting, Trump threatened countries that have digital taxes with “subsequent additional tariffs” on their goods if those nations do not remove such legislation.

Meta and the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment on the report.

Trump’s administration is considering imposing sanctions on the EU or member state officials responsible for the Digital Services Act, over complaints that it censors Americans and imposes costs on US tech firms, Reuters reported on Monday.

Many countries, particularly in Europe, have levied taxes on the sales revenue of digital service providers, including Alphabet’s Google, Meta, Apple and Amazon.

The issue has been a longstanding trade irritant for multiple US administrations.

The majority of Meta’s revenue comes from its core advertising business.

The company in July reported revenue of $47.52 billion for the quarter ended June 30, surpassing analysts’ average estimate of $44.80 billion.