Eleven lobby groups want the U.S. Trade Representative to “initiate formal dispute settlement procedures” under the pact, claiming U.S. firms will be predominantly affected by Ottawa’s proposed three per cent digital services tax (DST). Signatories to the letter include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Foreign Trade Council and Information Technology Industry Council. (The Logic)

Talking point: Monday’s missive echoes longstanding complaints about the DST, which the Liberals first proposed during the 2019 federal election. The measure will take effect this calendar year, once Bill C-59 gets through Parliament; it’s expected to pass the Senate this month. Ottawa has positioned the DST as a stopgap pending an OECD-brokered overhaul of international corporate tax rules. The U.S. business lobbies say Canada should just wait for that instead of imposing its own tax. But U.S. domestic disagreement on the issue threatens to scupper the international talks. “We continue to believe that the best outcome is an international deal, and we’re working to support that,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters Tuesday.