The United States Trade Representative (USTR) on Tuesday (June 2) said that his office will investigate into India's Digital Services Law adopted in March 2020 for being unfair. Besides India, UK, Brazil, EU, Spain, Indonesia will also probe in this regard.
According to USTR, the investigations will be conducted under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act which gives the USTR broad authority to investigate and respond to a foreign country's action which may be unfair or discriminatory and negatively affect US Commerce. The USTR added that a Federal Register notice has been issued providing details of the investigations as well as information on how members of the public can provide their views through written submissions.
"President Trump is concerned that many of our trading partners are adopting tax schemes designed to unfairly target our companies. We are prepared to take all appropriate action to defend our businesses and workers against any such discrimination," said USTR Robert Lighthizer.
It is to be noted that Washington is against the idea of imposing tax revenues from online sales and advertising, saying they single out US tech giants like Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Netflix.
