President Donald Trump threatened to slap further tariffs on the U.Ok. in retaliation for the island nation’s Digital Services Tax days before King Charles III is slated to contact down in the U.S. for a state go to.

In a press briefing from the Oval Office on Thursday afternoon — during which Trump announced a three-week extension to the tenuous Israel-Lebanon ceasefire — a reporter requested the president whether or not he’d be investigating the losses the U.S. has suffered because of the tax that’s netted the U.Ok. £1.3 billion ($1.75 billion).

“They made £1.3 billion last year. Is that something you would kind of investigate?” the reporter requested.

“We don’t like it when they target American companies, cause basically, you’re talking about our great American companies,” Trump responded. “And whether we like those companies or don’t like them, they’re American companies, and they’re top companies in the world.”

He added that his administration is “looking at it” and that it is “been looking at it.”

“The U.K. did it. A couple of other people did it. They think they’re going to make an easy buck. That’s where they’ve all taken advantage of our country,” Trump ranted before threatening further tariffs.

“They don’t take advantage of it,” he added. “No, we’ve been looking at it, and we can meet that very easily by just putting a big tariff on the U.K., so they better be careful. If they don’t drop the tax, we’ll probably put a big tariff on the U.K.”

The reporter adopted up by asking how a lot those tariffs might be. “Can they expect 5%? 10%?” he requested, referring to the businesses.

“Whatever — more than what they’re getting,” Trump replied. “They shouldn’t be doing that. All that’s doing is really targeting — it’s targeting great companies. But they’re our companies.”

“It’s like us targeting their companies, which we could do very easily,” he continued. “But you don’t have big companies like that. You don’t have those great companies.”

He added that he has “an obligation to protect” American firms and that, under his management, they’ve “become great.”

He bragged about what he dubbed “the best economy in history” he claims to have achieved during his first time period, then said the current one “will blow it away.”

Trump went on a tangent about the Iran struggle, claiming that the stock market is the very best it has been, and during wartime, too.

“Look at it — during a war, we have the highest stock market,” the president claimed. “During a war — it’s not a big war for us, but it’s a war — and during a war, we have the highest stock market.”

Pivoting back to the dialogue about the U.Ok.’s Digital Services Tax, he emphasised again that he has an obligation “to protect this country” and its companies.

“If they want to do the service tax — France did it also, and some others; literally, I have a meeting after this having to do with that exact question — and what we’ll do is, we’ll reciprocate by putting something on that’s equal or greater to what they’re doing. And they won’t be happy about that,” he concluded.

The U.Ok.’s Digital Services Tax, which took impact in April 2020, applies “to a group’s businesses that provide a social media service, search engine or an online marketplace to UK users,” according to the U.Ok.’s official authorities web site.

“These businesses will be liable to Digital Services Tax when the group’s worldwide revenues from these digital activities are more than £500 million and more than £25 million of these revenues are derived from UK users,” a abstract of the law reads. “If the group’s revenues exceed these thresholds, its revenues derived from UK users will be taxed at a rate of 2%.”

Explaining the explanation for the tax, the federal government wrote, “The application of the current corporate tax rules to businesses operating in the digital economy has led to a misalignment between the place where profits are taxed and the place where value is created. Many of these digital businesses derive value from their interaction and engagement with a user base.

“Under the current worldwide tax framework, the worth companies derive from consumer participation isn’t taken into account when allocating the earnings of business between different nations. This measure will make sure the large multinational companies in scope make a honest contribution to supporting very important public companies.

“The government still believes the most sustainable long-term solution to the tax challenges arising from digitalization is reform of the international corporate tax rules and strongly supports G7, G20 and OECD discussions on long-term reform. The government is committed to disapplying the Digital Services Tax once an appropriate international solution is in place.”

King Charles to make state go to to US

King Charles will contact down in the U.S. for a state go to at the end of April. He’s set to meet with Trump and other officers before making his means to Bermuda for another state go to — this time to a British abroad territory.

“On advice of His Majesty’s Government, and at the invitation of The President of the United States, The King and Queen will undertake a State Visit to the United States of America,” the Royal Family wrote on its official authorities web site.

It added that the go to can be to have fun the “modern bilateral relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States” and to also mark the 250th anniversary of American independence.

“The King will then continue to Bermuda to undertake His Majesty’s first Royal Visit as Monarch to a British Overseas Territory,” the announcement concludes.