[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 37 (Wednesday, February 26, 2025)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 10685-10687]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-03188]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 37 / Wednesday, February 26, 2025 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 10685]]
Memorandum of February 21, 2025
Defending American Companies and Innovators From
Overseas Extortion and Unfair Fines and Penalties
Memorandum for the Secretary of the Treasury[,] the
Secretary of Commerce[,] the United States Trade
Representative[, and] the Senior Counselor to the
President for Trade and Manufacturing
Section 1. Purpose. In recent years, the gross domestic
product of the United States' digital economy alone,
driven by cutting-edge American technology companies,
has been bigger than the entire economy of Australia,
Canada, or most members of the European Union. Instead
of empowering their own workers and economies, foreign
governments have increasingly exerted extraterritorial
authority over American companies, particularly in the
technology sector, hindering these companies' success
and appropriating revenues that should contribute to
our Nation's well-being, not theirs.
Beginning in 2019, several trading partners enacted
digital services taxes (DSTs) that could cost American
companies billions of dollars and that foreign
government officials openly admit are designed to
plunder American companies. Foreign countries have
additionally adopted regulations governing digital
services that are more burdensome and restrictive on
United States companies than their own domestic
companies. Additional foreign legal regimes limit
cross-border data flows, require American streaming
services to fund local productions, and charge network
usage and Internet termination fees. All of these
measures violate American sovereignty and offshore
American jobs, limit American companies' global
competitiveness, and increase American operational
costs while exposing our sensitive information to
potentially hostile foreign regulators.
My Administration will not allow American companies and
workers and American economic and national security
interests to be compromised by one-sided, anti-
competitive policies and practices of foreign
governments. American businesses will no longer prop up
failed foreign economies through extortive fines and
taxes.
Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of my Administration
that where a foreign government, through its tax or
regulatory structure, imposes a fine, penalty, tax, or
other burden that is discriminatory, disproportionate,
or designed to transfer significant funds or
intellectual property from American companies to the
foreign government or the foreign government's favored
domestic entities, my Administration will act, imposing
tariffs and taking such other responsive actions
necessary to mitigate the harm to the United States and
to repair any resulting imbalance.
In taking such responsive action, my Administration
shall consider:
(a) taxes imposed on United States companies by
foreign governments, including those that may
discriminate against United States companies;
(b) regulations imposed on United States companies
by foreign governments that could inhibit the growth or
intended operation of United States companies;
(c) any act, policy, or practice of a foreign
government that could require a United States company
to jeopardize its intellectual property; and
(d) Any other act, policy, or practice of a foreign
government that serves to undermine the global
competitiveness of United States companies.
[[Page 10686]]
Sec. 3. Agency Responsibilities. (a) The United States
Trade Representative shall determine, in accordance
with applicable law, whether to renew investigations
under section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C.
2411) of the DSTs of France, Austria, Italy, Spain,
Turkey, and the United Kingdom, which were initiated
under my Administration on July 16, 2019, and June 5,
2020. If the United States Trade Representative
determines to renew such investigations, he shall take
all appropriate and feasible action in response to
those DSTs.
(b) The United States Trade Representative shall
determine, consistent with section 302(b) of the Trade
Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2412(b)) (section 302(b)),
whether to investigate the DST of any other country
that may discriminate against United States companies
or burden or restrict United States commerce. He shall
further determine whether to pursue a panel under the
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on the DST
imposed by Canada and whether to investigate Canada's
DST under section 302(b). In making these
determinations, the United States Trade Representative
shall consult with the Secretary of the Treasury, as
appropriate.
(c) The Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of
Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative
shall jointly identify trade and other regulatory
practices by other countries, including, without
limitation, those described in section 2 of this
memorandum, that discriminate against,
disproportionately affect, or otherwise undermine the
global competitiveness or intended operation of United
States companies, in the digital economy and more
generally, and recommend to me appropriate actions to
counter such practices under applicable authorities.
The United States Trade Representative shall include
the results of this review as part of the report
required in section 5(c) of the Presidential Memorandum
of January 20, 2025 (America First Trade Policy)
(America First Trade Policy Memorandum).
(d) The Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of
Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative
shall investigate whether any act, policy, or practice
of any country in the European Union or the United
Kingdom has the effect of requiring or incentivizing
the use or development of United States companies'
products or services in ways that undermine freedom of
speech and political engagement or otherwise moderate
content, and recommend appropriate actions to counter
such practices under applicable authorities. The United
States Trade Representative shall include the results
of this review as part of the report required in
section 5(c) of the America First Trade Policy
Memorandum.
(e) The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation
with the Secretary of Commerce and the United States
Trade Representative, shall determine whether any
foreign country subjects United States citizens or
companies, including, without limitation, in the
digital economy, to discriminatory or extraterritorial
taxes, or has any tax measure in place that otherwise
undermines the global competitiveness of United States
companies, is inconsistent with any tax treaty of the
United States, or is otherwise actionable under section
891 of title 26, United States Code, or other tax-
related legal authority. The Secretary of the Treasury
shall include the results of this determination as part
of the report required in section 2 of the Presidential
Memorandum of January 20, 2025 (The Organization for
Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) Global Tax
Deal).
(f) The United States Trade Representative shall
identify tools the United States can use to secure
among trading partners a permanent moratorium on
customs duties on electronic transmissions. The United
States Trade Representative shall include the results
of this review as part of the report required in
section 5(c) of the America First Trade Policy
Memorandum.
(g) The United States Trade Representative, in
consultation with the Secretary of Commerce and the
Senior Counselor to the President for Trade and
Manufacturing, shall establish a process that allows
American businesses to report to the United States
Trade Representative foreign tax or regulatory
practices that disproportionately harm United States
companies.
[[Page 10687]]
Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this
memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise
affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent
with applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does
not, create any right or benefit, substantive or
procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any
party against the United States, its departments,
agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or
agents, or any other person.
(d) The United States Trade Representative is
authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in
the Federal Register.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
Washington, February 21, 2025
[FR Doc. 2025-03188
Filed 2-25-25; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3290-F7-P