German Minister Eyes New Digital Tax as US Prepares Pushback

A junior member of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s cabinet proposed a new tax on internet platforms like Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook, a move that could stoke further trade tensions with the US.

Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer said in an interview with Stern magazine that digital services are on his “agenda” and he sees a tax of 10% as “moderate and legitimate,” adding that his ministry is drafting legislation.

Big US tech companies “do billions in business in Germany with very high margins and benefit enormously from our country’s media and cultural content and ...