Trump‘s new tax bill is threatening to significantly hike rates for Canadian corporations and could cost investors holding U.S. securities up to $81-billion in additional taxes over seven years.
On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Republican legislation, titled the One, Big, Beautiful Bill, with a narrow vote of 215-214. If it becomes law, it will override the Canadian-U.S. tax treaty that has been in place since 1942.
The 1,100-page bill includes section 899, a tax proposal created as a retaliatory measure against what the U.S calls “discriminatory or unfair taxes” of foreign countries, including Canada’s digital services tax (DST), which was introduced in 2024.
The U.S legislation is still required to be passed by the Senate and receive presidential approval before it can become law. The White House expects the President to sign the final bill by July 4.
But under section 899, Canadian companies would see their tax rate increase by five percentage points each year until it reaches 20 percentage points above the statutory rate, or 50 per cent. It would remain in place until the “unfair tax” is removed.