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A new Republican-sponsored bill in the U.S. Congress takes aim at Canada’s attempts to force foreign streaming companies such as Netflix and Disney+ to pay into Canadian funds for domestic content production.
The proposed legislation could pave the way for the United States to impose new tariffs on Canadian products.
Called the Protecting American Streaming and Innovation Act, the bill was introduced on Thursday in the House of Representatives by Pennsylvania Republican Lloyd Smucker. It’s designed “to counter Canada’s digital trade barriers targeting American streaming companies and content producers,” he said in a news release.
“Canada’s unfair policies stack the deck against U.S. companies, creators, and workers,” Smucker said. CBC News has requested an interview with the congressman.
The bill is aimed at Canada’s Online Streaming Act, which has been a trade irritant for the U.S. since it became law in 2023.
Introduced by the former Trudeau government, the Online Streaming Act enabled the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to impose a rule ordering all streaming companies with at least $25 million in annual Canadian revenue to put five per cent of that into national funds that support the creation of Canadian content, including movies, television and local news.
While the CRTC has said the five per cent levy would generate some $200 million annually for Canadian programming, the payments have been on hold while the rule is being challenged in court.
The idea of forcing streamers to contribute funds toward Canadian content — sometimes dubbed the “Netflix tax” — has been kicked around in Ottawa for more than a decade.
The new bill from the Republicans would compel U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to investigate whether Canada’s tax on streamers constitutes an unfair trade practice and, if so, to take retaliatory action, such as imposing tariffs.
Several U.S. entertainment industry groups have voiced support for the bill, including the Motion Picture Association.
Last summer, Smucker and 17 other Republicans in Congress publicly called on the Trump administration to make ending Canada’s fee on foreign streaming companies a priority in trade negotiations.
Source: cbc
